Business of Fishing - training programmes for young recruits to the industry - we need them!

Have you caught the new #BusinessOfFishing film? Shot during the unique training course for the industry, this short film follows the Robertson family – fishermen from Gardenstown, Aberdeenshire – as they reflect on what fishing means to them personally, and as they embark on the Business of Fishing course to further their understanding of fisheries science and management. 

In the South West, anyone interested in a challenging but incredibly rewarding career at sea should head on down to Seafood Cornwall Training.

For more general information on training head read more about the training here.

Seafood week starts with #FishyFriday in Newlyn!

High water sees Tom put the Harvest Reaper 'up on the hard'...

a sure sign that work has bugun...

ripping out the fridge in the market...

and building a temporary wall to cut off the far end...

where the grading machine has been relocated...

always a better chance of seeing bass on the market as autumn approaches...

along with a better run of mackerel... 
  

the one beam trawler that landed filled up with plaice...

while the visiting Scottish prawn trawler looks like to have targeted cuttles this week...

even morkis are fair game these days making good money for bait...

along with a good run of scad, which makes great sashimi - and, as an oily fish,...

why not take up the Seafood Week challenge and eat at least two portions of fish over the next seven days...

the biggest trip for the day came from the netter, Karen of Ladram...

with a good shot of hake...

which kept the buyers bidding high...

not much to show for a 2am start for Barry who shot two nets for not much more than a few boxes of those ever-present dogfish...

Harvest moon hanging over Newlyn and the Vision III...

as the sun begins to spread a little light over the back of the Mount...

the big tide sees all the netting fleet tied up over the next few days until the next neap.

NLH - Releasing juveniles at Marazion in Mounts Bay, Cornwall.

Back at the Newlyn hatchery Chris explains some of the intricacies of raising juvenile lobsters...

and the process of removing eggs from a 'buried' female lobster who carries the eggs under her tail...

the juveniles are released having developed to such an extent that they are able to fend for themselves - though it's a cruel world out there and a huge number don't survive of course..

but the odds are significantly increased for lessening mortality rates through the NLH (National Lobster Hatchery) programme which has seen the number of lobsters increase significantly in the Bristol Channel.

OUR OCEAN, AN OCEAN FOR LIFE - Live Malta fisheries conference starts today!

Two videos in advance of this year's #OurOcean Conference from Malta look at Sustainable Fisheries...

and Marine Protected Areas - two key issues for many fishermen in the UK.

Technology allows any anyone able to get online to take part so it's great to see that you can follow the two day conference live on your desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile phone.

• Live streaming in other languages: Original version, Français | Español | العربية | 中文 | Русский
• Live streaming from the exhibit hall.
• Live streaming from the press room.

Over 3 billion people depend directly on our seas for their livelihoods. But in reality, all of us depend on the ocean: for our water, our food, our climate and our air. Seas and oceans enrich our identity, ensure our wellbeing and sustain a large part of the economy.

Human action has left our ocean heavily affected by pollution, overexploitation, coastal degradation and global warming. This has severe consequences for all. A new vision is needed, along with strong and action-oriented commitments.

Since 2014, Our Ocean conferences, have invited world leaders to look forward and respond, delivering high-level commitments and transforming the challenges ahead into an opportunity for cooperation, innovation and entrepreneurship. As in previous years, the 2017 edition “An Ocean for Life”, will be upon invitation only. It will be hosted by the European Union in Malta, at the heart of the Mediterranean.

Back in the UK and for those that can get there, next week sees the Humber Seafood Conference hosted by Seafish.

No snowflake here.

He's smiling because he's back aboard his boat again! - Cod, aka Steven Astley  lost both legs below the knee and a few fingertips through sepsis last year has just spent a small fortune getting the boat shipshape so that he can get back to see hand-lining for mackerel and line fish for bass and reclaim the title of top bass fisherman in Newlyn  - never a quitter, despite the challenge of now being at sea with two titanium legs, Cod in his usual self-effacing way, was more concerned with me giving Jesse Walters a plug for the gorgeous signwriting job on his boat, Butts! - best of luck to Cod when he first dips his feathers in the briny again...

tell-tale signs the beamer has been fishing for cuttles - that's why many of the Brixham boats now have black boxes!...

back over the road in Cornwall Painting Holidays studio Henrietta is hard at work on a couple of fish market paintings...

one of which is all about the early morning light that streams through the plastic doorway covers every morning in the summer months - a sight that will sadly be lost with the new market building...

partner Tim Hall has just submitted a few works to this year's Royal Society of Marine Artists exhibition at the Mall Gallery in London...

a bonnie morning for the Bonnie Grace.

Hunting cuttlefish from a punt off Cadgwith.

Here's a great insight into a relatively new method of fishing for cuttlefish being developed locally by punt fisherman Simon Bradley on the Lizard.:

Says Simon: "Well I've set my little boat to work catching cuttles by hook & line working two or three rods at a time depending on conditions.

"The filming is over a couple of fishing sessions - The first of which I landed 103 cuttlefish working my boat solo. (3 Octopus also came aboard which I retained for taking direct impressions in oils back at my studio)."

"Filming here is of cuttles cuttling about on the seabed & encountering lures which I was using to catch them on suitable rods."

"Goes to show an open 16ft boat can share in the current cuttlefish demand as more people cotton on that they can be even better than squid - prepared, cooked & served right that is!"

Ed: Here's a couple of tried and tested recipes to enjoy fresh cuttlefish!

Sophie Grigson's Cuttlefish in Red wine and tomato sauce and a classic traditional Sicillian dish with a little Cornish & Sicillian history thrown in for good measure!

"No need to litter the seabed with traps nor damage habitat through trawling. I firmly believe that line caught cuttles & octopus should demand a premium to the right market."

"Hope that my footage is of interest - PZ849 Working way South West - Cornwall. .... Possibly the smallest inkiest boat in the West."

NB. I've just noticed that I've mis-typed my boat name in my own credits - reckon I'm better at Fishing for Cephalopods than correcting my computer mistakes so I'll let it lie!"

"Best fishes from Cornwall,"

Simon K Bradley: 'Stargazy Pie' - PZ849

Monday morning market in Newlyn.

There's a temporary break in landings board information while it is re-located to the far end of the fish market so in the meantime it's straight into the fish which this morning included a shot of huge whiting and blue sharks from the Karen of Ladram, one of three netters to have fish on the market...

all carefully supervised by Roger...

and these ling keeping an eye on...

pollack from the Charisma...

and the Joy of Ladram...

while the buyers bid on a big trip of hake...

and a few good sized turbot...

while fish from the one beam trawler, Resurgam was sold very quickly...

just giving CFPO man Andy Wheeler enough time to extol the virtues of the Cornish sole to ...

a fascinated group of Exeter University's Msc in Sustainable Development Masters students...

seeing at first hand how a select number of netters have been granted a quota for spurdogs after years of having a ban on landing them...

no sign of any plaice this week - back to the two Ms, the staple diet of beam trawl fishing from Newlyn,  megrims and monk...

more than enough to keep the buyers busy and the prices high with poor weather up north guaranteeing a dearth of fish elsewhere......

just room for a few boxes on the about-to-be-closed end of the market...

one of those Mediterranean species gets the once over from some of the international students who  make up half the numbers of the course...

a Couch's bream a not so rare visitor to SW waters these days...

just one of the 38 species landed this morning in Newlyn...

back down the quay, the Crystal Sea has some major gear repairs lined up for the day...

with her nets spread up the quay.