Through the Gaps! - Newlyn Fishing News Cornwall UK fish commercial fishing fish cooking and art

Sunday, 23 September 2018

RIP George Payne, King of the fisherman's smock.

Sadly, last week George Payne who made, literally, a hugely unique contribution to Cornish fishing folklore has moved on to that great wheelhouse in the sky.

George was responsible for keeping the most traditional and iconic of fishermen's garments - the cotton smock...

alive and well (here - left- modelled by his good self) by introducing variations on traditional styles and introducing innovative designs using modern materials (reinforced PVC and nylon) for the sleeves or fronts which keep heavy sweaters underneath dry when handling gear, net and trawls...

until very recently George would often have been found here in what could be Cornwall's smallest retail shop adjacent the Sloop Inn St Ives...

many would agree, especially a huge number of Cornish fishermen...

like young Billy Bunn who says nothing beats a smock for protection from the wind when working on an open deck all day tailing prawns in cold dry weather...

smocks were cut so as to allow plenty of room to wear heavy sweaters underneath...

or, on warmer days, 'Hoss with just a shirt...

smocks were standard wear for both Terry Cougan and Sam Hicks on the Ben My Chree...

and Brian on the Ocean Harvester...

and if you look closely there's plenty of guys wearing smocks in this fish market scene from 1981...

the good news is that the cotton smock and many other traditional cotton and canvas garments and accessories are available...

from the Smock Shop in Gulval near Penzance where they are made or over in the St Ives shop...

or through their online shop...

of course, the little blue smock logo is also reminiscent of the Guy Cotton

fisherman logo whose company George supplies with cotton smocks to supplement their range of oilskin tops...

which the company developed years ago and are worn by fishermen the world over...

even when they are crewing in the Défi des Ports de Pêche - the fisherman's smock in its modern form is still the most durable and serviceable garment to protect yourself with at sea or in extreme weather.

For everyone else these superbly traditional cotton smocks make the perfect 100% Cornish made gift for...

children...

gardeners...

artists

and sailors they won't be beaten for their comfort, durability, colour range, longevity and made entirely by hand in Cornwall - if John le Carré can do his family Christmas shopping at the Smock Shop you know it makes sense to do the same!

Seafood Week 2018 - 5th-12th October

Debbie Cook – The Catch blog, September 2018

Seafood Week will run from 5th to 12th October this year. We've been talking about this a lot in the last few months so hopefully that's not news to you.

Regardless of whether you have engaged in Seafood Week before; this year you really do need to take a look at what's going on. We've shaken up everything we've done before; there's a whole new branding and lots of new images, the toolkit for businesses to use has been redeveloped with lots of input from our stakeholders in foodservice; most of the major retailers are involved and have signed up to various activities; we have bus adverts running on public transport in many major cities across the UK, we have an advertising campaign running on the London Tube, we have Restaurant Rockstars - fabulous chefs leading the way on social media and many, many more activities running across the UK.

The week itself on social media will look a bit like this:-

Friday 5th October - Memorable Mackerel
Saturday 6th October - Crazy About Crab
Sunday 7th October - Mad About Mussels
Monday 8th October - Fish and Chip Fanatic
Tuesday 9th October - Sensational Scallops
Wednesday 10th October - Loving Langoustines
Thursday 11th October - Pick Up Some Plaice
Friday 12th October - It's time for Tuna.

Look out too for national media coverage we've secured in the Daily Mail and also our radio campaign which will go out via the Classic, Smooth and Heart radio stations. Celebrity Dermot O'Leary will also be talking seafood on our behalf as will a number of other high profile influencers including Alice Living and Isaac Carew.

Please do engage in Seafood Week. It's not too late to get involved - you can do so by contacting seafoodweek@seafish.co.uk . Improving the consumption rates of seafood in the UK is an important focus for us at Seafish, it being the top area of work our stakeholders voted for us to focus on. We're working on this year round with lots of other activities and campaigns. You can find out more on Seafood Week at www.seafoodweek.co.uk and our other marketing activities at FishIsTheDish.co.uk.

At the very least please do get involved on Twitter using the following hashtags - #seafoodweek, #ratemyfish and #seafoodhero.

Together we can work towards encouraging the UK population to eat more seafood more often, getting them to the recommended two portions of seafood a week.

Saturday, 22 September 2018

Catalyzing the Growth of Electronic Monitoring in Fisheries

Once seen as the epitome of the devil incarnate EM (Electronic ~Monitoring) many fishermen are now coming round to the idea that EM is the only way they can protect their futures by arming themselves with hard evidence to back up the claims of fishing viability in an increasingly hostile world. From across the pond comes an in-depth and revealing report on the impact EM is having on the west coast of the USA.

The Nature Conservancy and California Environmental Associates have released an outstanding new report. Here is some introductory language:

This paper presents a brief overview of the current state of EM, the benefits of the technology, and the main barriers to broader adoption, as well as a set of recommendations to help catalyse the growth of EM in fisheries. Recommendations are organised around the primary barriers to adoption presented in the paper, and a set of overarching near-term priorities for catalysing the growth of EM are offered at the end of the report. More than 40 EM experts representing NGOs, foundations, regulators, seafood and catch-sector companies, and EM providers were interviewed as a part of this project, and their perspectives have been invaluable in synthesizing the current state of EM and collating a set of recommendations for advancing the tool. These perspectives have been supplemented with a review of the EM literature. We hope the findings in this report will spur further conversations about the role of EM in improving fisheries management and delivering value to the seafood industry, and help build alignment within the fisheries stakeholder community around how best to advance this tool.

EM Information is a joint project of Environmental Defense Fund, Fieldwork Communications LLC, George LaPointe Consulting LLC, Lowman & Associates, and a growing number of EM & ER innovators from around the world. We welcome your questions and participation. Please reach us at info@eminformation.com.

Further information and all the latest EM news from the EM website can be found here:

Friday, 21 September 2018

Fisheries White Paper The CFPO's Response

The CFPO has now submitted its formal response to the Government's Fisheries White Paper: 'Sustainable Fisheries for Future Generations'.

The response reflects the collective views of our diverse membership and is clear about our priorities and vision for future management of UK fisheries in the post Brexit era.

What next?

This Autumn looks to be one of the most critical periods for the fishing industry in recent history.

Now the formal White Paper consultation has ended we will be looking to make sure our concerns and priorities are acknowledged and understood by Ministers, MPs, and officials at both DEFRA and DexEU.

In the coming months, we will be working to hold the Government to account and will be continuing to apply pressure to ensure fishing remains a UK priority throughout the Brexit negotiations.

The preparation, discussions and the strategising for the important December Fisheries Council, where TACs and quotas for 2019 will be agreed, have already begun and will continue in earnest until the meeting on the 13th and 14th December.

As well as Brexit and December Council, the CFPO will continue its work on the challenges presented by full implementation of the Landing Obligation from 1 January 2019, as well as a host of other issues that might impact your business such as bass management, gear conflict incidents, shellfish management and fishing industry reputation (both public and political).

In these uncertain times, one thing remains constant: the CFPO is your organisation and your views, comments and opinions are essential as we move forward. We will continue to need your valued input and we encourage you to get in touch by either coming into the office, by post, phone, email, Facebook or text. Please do not hesitate to get in contact and tell us what you think and what direction you feel the CFPO should be taking.

We will be providing updates on progress on all these issues in our next newsletter in December.

Presentation to the Cornwall FLAG

On the 21st August, our communications partner, Mindfully Wired Communications, presented at the Cornwall FLAG Board meeting. The presentation outlined why the CFPO values good communication and provided highlights on what we've been working on with MWC over the past year. Click the link to see the presentation.

Skate is a thorny topic for many - fishermen catch skate on a regular basis throughout ICES VII f & g yet there is a zero quota for these delicious fish.

Yet again, Newyn Harbour has made the Boardroom available for this important meeting for all those keen to add their thoughts and ideas into the mix - however controversial - the more views and ideas the better for a healthy debate.