Monday morning's Spanish flag of convenience stern trawler.

Monday morning sees four beam trawlers, one inshore trawler and a Spanish flag of convenience trawler...

with megs...

and monk from the Billy Rowney...

Dover sole...

a handful of JDs...

the odd bass...

a few reds...

another odd bass...

some monster turbot...

and plenty of big whitefish from the netters, like the Ocean pride and their pollack...

and hake...

big cod form the Gary M...

plenty of MSC hake form the Brit...

and for the first time ever, hake from the hake trawling specialists the Sanamedio...

a few pollack...

all of which went down well with the buyers...

including these whole monk...

gutted the Spanish way with their livers left in...

looks like the James RH is all but ready to sail...

a big apology to Sam for missing her out on International Women's Day #IWD2017...

taking a short break to enjoy another fabulous morning in Newlyn...

inshore trawlers...

offshore netter...

and the Spanish deep-water trawler...

with enough spare net...

and trawls aboard to keep her at sea for weeks...

along with a gear-handling crane amidships...

one in, one out...

as the Nazarene heads out for a day on the pots...

a better idea of how big the Spaniard is...

no sign of the Ajax's shaft yet...

bow on to the Spaniard...

full on A&P workforce

early season yacht sets sail...

as the fleet bask in the morning sun...

it's fuel time for big Don...

the stern ramp and trawl doors of the Sanamedio...

she was built to fish in deep water for hake and monk on banks like the Porcupine...

which is likely where she steamed form before arriving in Newlyn...

the AA heads up the fleet in berth...

over 25m vessels have a duplicate set of all important navigation lights fitted...

plenty of heavy scaffolding on the Trevessa IV...

 in order to re-build her forward gantry.

New Newlyn crabber Harriet Eve launch party

Watch & listen to the blessing and naming ceremony for the Harriet Eve

Proving that despite ever increasing and seemingly obstructive red-tape and officialdom the Rowse crab fishing family continues to demonstrate its faith in the future with yet another new build, the Harriet Eve. The boat is named after the youngest in the family who turned seven the day before - what a birthday present! - although one of her friends who came to the launch 'party' was gutted to find there were no cakes!

The boat represents a truly Cornish effort - with a myriad of local companies being brought together to create what is a shining example and triumph of technology over fishing boat design and build. Mark and Emma Rowse have personally overseen the fitting out of the boat - in less than 5 months - and with all the experience of years in the game and having fitted out an identical boat a few years ago (Emma Louise) the latest addition to the fleet oozes functionality, ease of fishing operation and vessel maintenance for skipper-to-be Richard Carrol and his crew.

Some years ago, the family firm decided that processing their own catch was a way of better profiting from the efforts of their skippers and crews working their growing fleet. They invested in a factory and the Real Cornish Crab Company was born and began to develop sales of crab in a burgeoning home market .

When Mark began fishing with his father Mike who skippered the port's biggest cabber, the Julian Paul almost 100% of the shellfish they landed was sold abroad - mostly to France. Today, around 15% of the Real Cornish Crab Company's fish follows suit, some 50% is now processed and consumed while an amazing 25% is flown, live, via Heathrow to China - from pot to plate in under 48 hours! 

The company can thank its success not to any external agency but to their personal dedication in ensuring that the boats not only fish sustainably (they fish for whelks too) but that every element of the operation is meticulously recorded - via the website they can tell a buyer exactly who, when and where there catch was caught and who and when it was processed.  

This is the first time a family firm in Newlyn has launched more than one new build of significant size in more generations than anyone can remember - real testimony to the combined efforts of all those who work for and with them.

Good fishing to skipper Richard Carrol and crew that sail the Harriet Eve!

The last #FishyFriday in March.

Two beam trawlers, two inshore trawlers and three netters for this morning's #FishyFriday market...

on Newlyn Harbour...

so there are plenty of quality flats like brill...

and plenty of Dover sole from the twin-rigger Elisabeth Veronique...

and plaice...

and, as ever, a handful of big cod...

straight from the boat early this morning, the biggest shot of John Dory was from the Spirited Lady making a late landing...

while the buyers were busy bidding...

the other end of the market was wall-to-wall with big white fish...

mainly the finest MSC Certified Cornish hake...

and a few of these guys...

there's always a handful of these guys with the bigger boats...

while Roger makes sure the Spirited Lady's  fish are sorted in time for the last sale of the morning...

popular pollack...

and lovely ling...

out in the harbour there's a couple of visitor

another regular visitor...

looks like it is refit time for the Cornishman

hardly a cat with sleek feline lines...

with the Scillonian III back in action there are dozens of gigs being shipped from Penzance dock across to the islands for the Scillys' World Gig Racing Championships.

Getting to sea in a lull!

Getting to sea in a lull before the next blow! The inshore trawler Elisabeth Veronique with her beautifully signwritten name is seen here leaving Newlyn early on Wednesday morning. There is still plenty of movement in the water as she heads out to sea owing to a heavy swell still running from the previous day's little blow that whipped through from the west.

For more fishing videos and links, please subscribe to Through the Gaps YouTube channel - in the near future there will be livestreamed video straight from the boats!

Brexit fishing debate on BBC Daily Politics Show

Aneurin Bevan put his finger on it. “This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish,” he said. “Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time.”

Although, in reality, the UK fishing industry contributes but a fraction of the GDP its place in the public psyche cannot be denied. For an island nation, fishermen represent all that has put the great in Great Britain - independence of thought, creativity, resourcefulness, guile, the crew working as a team and above all grit and determination to take whatever is thrown at them. So it came as no surprise when the industry became a figurehead to represent leave campaigners.

BBC2 Daily Politics show sent reporter Adam Finn was sent to Peterhead fish market to talk to Aaron Brown the mastermind behind the Fishing for Leave campaign that organised the Thames Flotilla during the Brexit campaign. 

Copies of the plan can be obtained from the Fishing for leave website by clicking here.
Later in the show, SNP's MSP Stuart Stevenson and Hull MEP and UKIP Fisheries spokesman Mike 'fisticuffs' Hookham discuss their vision for the industry post-Brexit along with feedback from Conservative, Lord Dobbs.

Listen to the report from Peterhead and studio debate in full:

If ever there was a bigger test of the government's resolve to deliver what they promised during the Brexit campaign then surely fishing must be right there at the top - remember the words that summed up their campaign, 

'We will take back control"

Watch this space.


For a flavour of how the general public (well, FT readers) view the forthcoming negotiations read the aruicle and expand the comments form today's Financial Times article:

EU fishing fleet urges post-Brexit access to UK seas.

British fish exports could face tariffs without deal to keep rights for vessels

More efficient and reliable data in fisheries-EP adopts new regulation

The new rules for data collection in fisheries which will result to more efficient and reliable data was adopted by plenary on Thursday. The new rules will result to better and more comparable data helping making better decisions in fisheries based on scientifically proven evidence. The revised regulation was informally agreed by the Parliament and the Council in December 2016.

“We are happy we have obtained a good text that will help us improve fisheries policies. You can't make good decisions without reliable data, and thanks to this data collection framework we will have these data. It has been a lot of hard work so far, but it is not over yet, as we must now apply the new regulation in all member states. Along with the upcoming rules on technical measures, the data collection framework represents the basis for fairer and more sustainable fisheries policies”, said the rapporteur Marco Affronte (Greens/EFA, IT). EP approved the new rules with 535 votes to 38 with 48 abstentions.

Multiannual Union programme

The European Commission will establish a multiannual Union programme for the collection and management of data, taking into account, inter alia, the need for relevant and reliable data, costs and benefits and the need to avoid duplication of data collection. The multiannual programme will include:

• thresholds below which it will not be mandatory for a member state to collect data or carry out research surveys

• biological data on all stocks caught or by-caught in Union commercial, and recreational fisheries in Union and outside Union waters
• data to assess the impact of Union fisheries on the marine ecosystem in Union waters and outside Union waters
• data on the activity of Union fishing vessels in Union waters and outside Union waters
• socio-economic data and sustainability data on marine aquaculture to enable the assessment of the socio-economic performance and the sustainability of the Union aquaculture sector, including its environmental impact
• socio-economic data on the fish processing sector to enable the assessment of the socio-economic performance of that sector

National work plans

Member states will prepare detailed work plans, in close cooperation with other member states. These work plans will include data to be collected in accordance with the Union programme, the spatial distribution and the frequency by which the data will be collected and the format and timing when data will be made available to end-users.

Regional coordination groups

 In order to facilitate regional coordination (regionalisation is one of the core objectives of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy), EU countries will establish “Regional Coordination Groups” for each marine region. These Groups will consist of experts nominated by member states, national correspondents -designated by member states to serve as the focal point for exchange of information between the Commission and the member state- and representatives from the Commission.

The Groups will develop regional databases and may also prepare draft regional work plans to be submitted to the Commission for evaluation. These regional plans will replace or supplement the relevant parts of the national work plans of each member state concerned.

Next steps

The new regulation will enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.


Background information

Data are needed to evaluate the state of fish stocks, the profitability of the different segments of the sector and the effects of fisheries and aquaculture on the ecosystem. Data are also needed to evaluate EU policies.

For this reason, an EU framework for the collection and management of fisheries data was established in 2000, and then reformed in 2008 resulting in the Data Collection Framework (DCF).