Mid-week fish market in Newlyn

The buyers gather round auctioneer Ian for the first auction of Wednesday's market...

with some prime fish like these big tub gurnards...

monk tails...

and a good mix of flats and ray...

including these cracking plaice...

all caught on film...

looks like the beamer William Samson Stevenson was scarping those patches of hard ground or a wreck again judging by the number of conger eels they landed...

along with a dozen boxes...

of the crabbers' go to bait, the lesser spotted dogfish which are abundant around coastal waters of the UK...

just the odd John Dory...

while it will be interesting to see where these urchins end up later today, maybe a taster dish at The Shore restaurant in Penzance...

along with these immaculate squid...

and some tasty looking scad...

plenty of mackerel with the handliners yesterday from St Ives...

while whiting...

a few cod...

and the odd turbot...

more than enough to put a smile on Mr Cripps face...

the sum total of hake on a market with no net fish...

the gaping jaws of tub gurbnard...

and this unusual catch...

a handful of haddock...

and plenty of megrim soles...

the staple diet of the beam trawl fleet...

a  brace of JDs..

on a morning devoid of sunshine...

as work on the market roof continues...

to fit solar panels...

in two rows the length of the fish market roof...

down the end of the Mary Williams pier, the ex-Breton trawler..

,Breizh Arvor...

showing off her twin-rig trawl...

spread by Thyborøn doors...

and the heavy combination bridle complete the rig...

and her new paint job...

a huge storm front passes over St Michaels Mount...

and Newlyn.

FISHERIES INTERNATIONAL STUDY BURSARY PROGRAMME

Personal Development through International Study

Fisheries Innovation Scotland (FIS) is once again advertising its International Study Bursary Programme, designed to help the career development of those working in or with the commercial fishing industry: catching, processing, supply chain, NGO, academia and so on. Awards will be made to winning applicants who have identified a specific short international study trip they believe will benefit their career and their ability to contribute to the sector in Scotland. The overarching theme of the study visit will be to address any aspect of fisheries innovation and sustainability.

This is a competitive Programme, with the best applicant receiving a study bursary each year. It is open to any Scottish-based individual, without gender or other bias.

Download the 2018/19 International Study Bursary Application Form.

Singing the Fishing

Fishing, as it was in the days before logbooks, licenses and the Landing Obligation - the best kind of programme making from by the BBC capturing life in Britain through music and the spoken word.

Taken from the album Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger & Charles Parker 'Singing The Fishing’ 1966 on Argo Records. Written by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. First transmitted on August 16th 1960 for the BBC Home Service, this compelling recording of radio-ballads (the third of eight recorded between 1958-1964) proved so popular that the BBC were inundated with letters of praise and requests for repeat airings. 

Six parts of the series became available on LP via Argo Records between 1965-1970, until the brilliant Topic Records released all eight parts on CD direct from the original masters between 1999 & 2008. The radio-ballads were described by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger as 'the work of a team of singers (inc A.L. Lloyd, Ian Campbell, Isla Cameron, John Faulkner & Joe Heaney), songwriters (MacColl & Seeger), technicians (Charles Parker), instrumentalists (including Dave Swarbrick & Alf Edwards) and others who were consciously attempting to apply the techniques of folk creation to one part of the mass media...radio’. 

This part is in essence a trilogy, and tells of the three generations in the lifetime of British fishermen in the early 1900's, sail, steam and diesel. The BBC eventually got rid of radio-ballads and their unit dedicated to it shortly after these recordings were made, even going as far as to sack Charles Parker (producer of these recordings) in 1972, however over 5000 hours of recordings made by Parker are now available on the internet. MacColl & Seeger's history speaks for itself and their contribution to British folk is only strengthened by this excellent collection. 

These recordings have been put up for the enjoyment and education of others unable to hear them at the time. Any requests for them to be taken down from youtube will result in their immediate removal. All rights to the owners.

Monday morning at Newlyn Fish Market

First of the hake netters to land this week after last week's huge equinoctial spring tide...

and the chance to use one of the harbour's new pallet trucks, though...

finding enough pallets to stack the fish boxes on was another matter, luckily young Edwin was on hand...

this week's hake...

come in all sizes...

with summer behind him young Roger Nowell has turned his attention to catching ray, nice landing of blondes, stars and undulate...

and the odd bull huss...

these top quality red mullet were soon sold...

while auctioneer Ian moved on to a landing from the beam trawler, Cornishman...

which included some whiter-than-white brill...

cuckoo ray...

lemon sole...

haddock...

no danger of this shark losing its fins...

all set for tomorrow's auction, fish from the Amanda of Ladram...

the beady eye of the shark keeping an eye on the auction in progress...

there were just a few boxes of John Dory from the inshore boats...

along with some handline pollack...

and mackerel...

male rays have large claspers that they use for reproduction - buried under soft flaps of skin are a series of hook-like appendages...

name this fish...

plate sized turbot...

the tub gurnard, ask your local fishmonger for this fish - a treat indeed...

gridlocked forklifts at the market...

having steamed from her home port of Vigo nearly two weeks ago the Spanish Flag of Convenience vessel, Udra has called in to Newlyn to make one of her token fish landings in order to meet the regulations that apply to such vessels...

the size of the main winch drums tells you that she works her trawls in very deep water - up to and over 100 fathoms - the top layers visible on the drums are  'combination' - a mix of wire warp and polypropylene that is used for the long bridles - combination does not 'dig' into the seabed like wire bridles would on the softer ground that these boats work on...

the trawl is hauled up and over the stern of the boat along the trawl deck and then passed down below for getting and washing...

the boat carries a huge amount of spare trawls and net...

 - a necessity when you are working what would be a four day round trip just to get back to Vigo from the fishing grounds SW of Ireland...

the Udra in the deepest quayside berth in the harbour...

on a very murky Monday morning.

The Landing Obligation (LO) - but four months away.

While the UK media and population at large continues to debate BREXIT the fishermen of the UK and Europe face a more immediate dilemma - the impending full implementation of the Landing Obligation. Out of this dilemma the MINOUW project was born.

The MINOUW project’s overall objective is the gradual elimination of discards in European marine fisheries. They aim to minimise unwanted catches by incentivising the adoption of technologies and practices that reduce bycatch and discards, and avoid damage to sensitive marine species and habitats.

Our goal is to develop and demonstrate technological and socio-economic solutions that enable and incentivise fishermen to 1) avoid unwanted catches, or 2) where this cannot be reasonably or practically achieved, to utilise them productively and sustainably.

Landing, the catch.

With only four months until the full implementation of the Landing obligation in January 2019, fishers are facing a huge challenge to adapt. Promoting the adoption of affordable, more selective fishing gears would be a huge step in the right direction.

THE LANDING OBLIGATION - A HUGE CHANGE IN EUROPEAN FISHERIES

Introduced under EU legislation as part of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP, EU Reg. 1983/2013) The Landing Obligation has been described as ‘the biggest change in European fisheries since the introduction of quotas in 1983’.

With up to one million tonnes of fish estimated to be thrown overboard in Europe each year, the so-called ‘discard ban’ is designed to end the practice by fishers of throwing non-target and undersized species back in the sea. From now on, all catches of regulated species will need to be landed in port.

Its introduction represents a huge change in fishing practices for fishers across Europe, and full implementation and compliance represents a major challenge.

THE FISHING INDUSTRY IS NOT PREPARED TO MEET THIS CHALLENGE

Despite the incremental introduction of the Landing Obligation over the last four years, the fisheries industry remains woefully underprepared for its implementation, and complying fully will cause real difficulty for fishers both economically and logistically.

The requirement to land all catches of regulated species will have a real financial impact, with increased handling costs both at sea (sorting, storage) and in port.

These costs are not the only issue; dealing with the landings itself will be problematic. As fish that would have been discarded cannot be sold for human consumption, they must be disposed of in other ways - for example as food for pets or aquaculture - but the facilities, logistics and markets for dealing with this are not in place. Fishers could find themselves having to pay for the destruction of these fish, as special waste of animal origin.

In addition, as of January 1st 2019, any fishers not complying with the landing obligations could be considered as acting illegally, with the EU Commission coming under increasing pressure to ensure the rules of the CFP are enforced.

In addition, as of January 1st 2019, any fishers not complying with the landing obligations could be considered as acting illegally, with the EU Commission coming under increasing pressure to ensure the rules of the CFP are enforced.

BETTER SELECTIVITY IS THE BEST APPROACH - ELIMINATE DISCARDS AT SOURCE

Faced with this situation, we need to find a practical and constructive approach to the implementation of the Landing Obligation that helps fishers to adapt.

Firstly, we should encourage fishers to face reality: ultimately they will have to abide by the landing obligation. Secondly, we should provide the tools, information and funding that helps them do so.

Through our work over the last two years we have seen the willingness of fishers to collaborate and look for solutions to the discard problem. Our experience has been that they were quick to see that greater selectivity - and eliminating the problem of discards and bycatch at source - was the best way to comply with the new rules.

“It’s interesting to see the willingness of fishermen to collaborate in finding solutions to discards as they are now feeling the pressure of the landing obligation”

Sergio Vitale, CNR (MINOUW)

More selective fishing gear can bring many additional benefits to fishers, and is an affordable, practical and effective action for fishers to consider. Information about more selective gears, where and how they can be used, and funding to help fishers switch to using them will be key to a successful implementation of the landing obligation.

Research at the University of York (UK) found that the introduction of a discard ban in Norwegian cod and haddock fisheries in 1987 ultimately encouraged fishers to install more selective fishing gear. Despite some short-term economic costs, the Norwegian and Barents Sea fisheries are today among some of the most prosperous in the world.

WHAT ACTIONS SHOULD POLICY MAKERS TAKE?

1. Make selectivity the priority

The best option to eliminate discards is to avoid unwanted catches in the first place, by increasing the selectivity of fishing gears. Additionally, when unwanted catches do occur, the survival rates of the discarded fish can be improved by adapting techniques.

2. Provide funding

The more selective fishing gears successfully tested by MINOUW are inexpensive, and the use of European Maritime Fishery Funds (EMFF) could help scale up the adoption of more selective gears at regional scale, e.g. in the Mediterranean.

For more details visit the MINOUW website.

Further Landing Obligation information information can be found on the European Commission's Fisheries site here: