#FishyFriday in Newlyn

#FishyFriday finds Newlyn full of fish again...

with a great shot of flats like these brill...

and other flats from the inshore trawler Elisabeth Veronique...

while the new kid on the block, Ocean Harvest pulled out a solid trip with good fishing on ray...

while the handline boys like Cap'n Cod on the Butts...

pulled up good hauls of pollack...

and bass for their day's work...

which kept the buyers busy...

the Karen of Ladram was one of three netters to land early trips for this neap tide...

and the quality of the fish only a couple of days old was enough to make even the most hardened buyers happy...

with well over 400 boxes of the best MSC Certified Cornish hake to choose from...

boats like the Amanda of Ladram...

one of only a handful of boats licensed to land spurdog...

there were also a few carp-like red mullet from up the coast...

and a solid trip quality flats...

and monk tails...

from Nathan Marshall, skipper of the Billy Rowney...

no prizes for guessing what these boxes are full of...

bass are always something of a bonus for an inshore trawler...

like this trip from Tom on the Harvest Reaper...

at first light the moon hangs almost due south of the harbour...

and judging by the look of...

the sky it's going to be another

gorgeous day in Cornwall...

as the light begins to fill the harbour...

work on the aluminium shelterdeck...

of the Galilee is well underway...

both these boats are at the ready to sail at a moment's notice...

an early morning delivery of fuel oil arrives down the quay...

a sure sign of the autumn in Keel Alley...

work nears completion on the other new crabber in the port on the slip...

as does work on the beam trawler, Resurgam nearing the end of her massive overhaul...

back on the Billy Rowney Dan plans a night ashore...

as skipper Steve discusses the poor forecast and the bumpy ride off they will have when sailing tomorrow given the poor forecast for the weekend...

which should give cameraman Luke something to think about planning those poor weather shots as he heads back to pick up more film gear for the trip.

Fishing after Brexit: voices from the coast

It's often stated by politicians that the fishing industry voted for Brexit in order to escape from the EU fishing quotas. This ignores the voices of the smaller fishermen, who are fishing in a much more sustainable way and are often based in rural communities. Alasdair Macleod was strongly anti-Brexit and it seems many fishermen like him round the UK feel the same way. Their interests and opinions must be taken into account in the chaos of the negotiations. The powerful voice of the SFF, which represents the big industrial boats in Scotland, must not be allowed to prevail.

There is an opportunity here for a new approach to fishing policy, which enables the creation of a sustainable fishing industry, managed locally by people who take responsibility for ensuring the stocks remain healthy.
Please listen to the fishermen from round the UK (including lots of locals) speaking out in this film and if you are able to support them in any way, please do so, even if it's just to challenge the oft quoted claim that Brexit will benefit the UK fishing fleet.

Small-scale fishers make up the majority of the 12,000 fishers in the UK, but often don't have a voice in decision-making. So this summer, we travelled to ports around the UK to talk to them and others and industry about Brexit, and their hopes for the future of UK fishing.

Film courtesy of the New Economics Foundation.

Seafood is the way forward - latest video from Seafish.

At Seafish we know that seafood is the way forward for business, the way forward for our communities, the way forward for the environment and the way forward for our personal health and wellbeing.

This film showcases the whole seafood industry from catch to plate; celebrating the many heroes of the seafood industry and the wonderful seafood available in the UK.

Don't miss! Auction in aid of the Fish Mish this Friday at the Old Coastguard, Mousehole.

THE FISHERMEN'S MISSION AUCTION Friday, 2 November at The Old Coastguard, Mousehole.

We’re raising money for the Fishermen’s Mission in Newlyn and you can help. Join us at an auction of the photography of David Penprase and Chris Boulton that currently adorns our walls, an auction in which everything will sell. For an idea of the what’s on offer, have a look here. We’re also immensely lucky that two of our favourite artists, Penny Rumble and Martin Sadler have each donated a painting to be sold to help us raise more money. If you can join us to bid, drinks and canapés are from 4pm, with the auction run by Lay’s Auctioneers from 5.30pm. If you can’t make it and would like to leave a sealed bid, email us here for a bidding form.

Free fishing industry magazine Hook & Net talks to skipper Sid porter.

Taking advantage of the latest in online publishing tools, Hook & Net provides the fishing industry with an easily accessible and free monthly journal.  Plenty of images to support a wide range of fishing stories from around the UK, Europe and sometimes beyond, Hook & Line is supported by a range of knowledgeable and experienced writer.

Hook & Net can be accessed simply by downloading the app to your mobile phone or tablet, iPad - Apple or Android it works just as well - and best of all, it's free!

The latest issue carries an excellent example by Quentin Bates in covering popular Padstow skipper, Sid Porter who commands one of Waterdance's big netters, the Karen of Ladram - read on:

‘STICK TO WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT’

Simon Porter, known to everyone as Sid, skippers netter Karen of Ladram

Known to everyone as Sid, Simon Porter has netting in his blood. Apart from a couple of spells of potting and trawling, he has been fishing with static nets for all of his fishing career. Today he skippers Waterdance’s netter Karen of Ladram, working from the south-west of England to target primarily hake, as well as monk, turbot and other species.

‘I like netting, and you stick to what you’re good at,’ he said, and commented that he came from Padstow in 2007 to work in Newlyn for Drew Davis who owned the CKS, which was acquired by Waterdance in 2010.

Karen of Ladram heading out through the gaps from Newlyn.

The boat was then replaced by longliner Sparkling Line, which was converted to netting. Sparkling Line was then sold to become a crabber and replaced by Karen of Ladram – former pair seiner Boy John.

Simon Porter, known to everyone as Sid, skippers netter Karen of Ladram
‘We’re not changing again. This is the boat I want and this one will see me out,’ he said.

He said that the growth of the hake fishery has been rapid, and at one time couple of boxes of hake for each tier of nets was good fishing.

‘It was when I was steaming home past the Scillies on the CKS that I called Drew to let him know that we had caught 1000 stone (6.35 tonnes) of hake for a trip,’ he recalled.

‘Drew said he had never caught that much in a trip – and since then we’ve seen a thousand stone in tier. This year we were seeing 200 boxes in a a tier,’ he said, commenting that the boat is set up to handle around 300 boxes in a day when fishing is heavy.

‘I try to be a bit sensible about it. We’re geared up for big fishing, with the crew and the deck space, and I know what the boat and the crew are capable of. When fishing is good, you don’t shoot too much gear. But if you’re the first one fishing somewhere, you don’t know. This winter we had 300 box days, but over the last few months it has been quieter. Fishing has been quieter, still good, but more like it used to be,’ he said,’ adding that prices have gone up – but the hake price still isn’t close to what it ought to be.

Karen of Ladram homeward bound.

Unlike the Sparkling Line it replaced, Karen of Ladram has the capacity to carry several sets of gear, eliminating the chore of spooling one set of gear ashore to replace it when switching from hake nets to trammels for monk, and back, and with today’s heavier gear it’s also possible to fish more tide than in the past.

‘We didn’t used to fish the spring tides because it wasn’t worth it. Now there’s that much hake that it is. We only stop when we’re tired,’ he said, as Karen of Ladram and the rest of the netting fleet were tied up for a few days with the spring tides were at their peak.


Predation remains a problem, although there are ways to work around it, keeping to areas where seals are scarcer, and hauling gear to shift it from one place to another to try and lose the seals.

‘If you’re fishing the north areas, you’re doing well if you get to keep 50% of your monk, and I’ve seen everything gone in the past as the seals take a bite from every single fish in the net,’ he said, adding that lice are also a problem on some grounds, but these can also be avoided.

‘You need to time it so that you finish hauling as dark comes in. Anything you haul after dark will have lice, especially hake.’

Follow Karen of Ladram on Twitter

Story by ex-fisherman and crime writer, Quentin Bates.

It's 7am and the Swordfish breakfast bar is busy!

Last of the fish coming off the auction floor this morning...

includes a brace of John Dory...

and it's good to see how some merchants have taken up the opportunity to support those skippers who are promoting their own business...

along with the company that supplies their fishing gear...

how times have changed, with the auction over its time to head for the Swordfish Inn for a spot of breakfast...

or in Roger's case, yet another cup of "f******g tea" as he nears the end of his personal 'austerity' - after he decided, in a rash moment, to do a "dry October" for MacMillan Cancer...

which doesn't escape Cap'n Cod's attention as he can't help but extract the Michael as he passes Roger by...

before joining a table of early morning drinkers...

for a sumptuous cooked breakfast provided by landlord George and his crew...

meanwhile the Tranquiltiy is back in Newlyn to take ice...

as the Ajax leaves for another trip...

and the beamer crew repair their gear...

work is nearing completion on the Resurgam...

and the slip is back in action with Rowse's latest crabber undergoing hull work to fit her new vivier tank...

the new loading bay is taking shape at the end of the market.

Mapping the 2017 UK fishing catch

These infographics were produced by Chris Huggins currently working with the UK in a changing Europe team.

As part of our Brexit and fisheries policy project I recently put together an infographic showing where UK vessels catch their fish.

It did a pretty good job of highlighting that vessels from each of the UK’s four nations don’t just stick to that nation’s waters and why common frameworks will need to be given serious consideration in any post-Brexit UK fisheries policy.

A high-resolution PDF version can be downloaded here.

But it’s limited in that it doesn’t give you an immediately clear sense of the differences in how much each fleet catches. For example the Scottish fleet catches much more than the fleets in the other UK nations, but it’s not overly clear from the infographic how much more as it only really highlights where fish is caught.

I came across the idea of using a dot density map, so decided to give that a go.

The result

A high-resolution PDF version can be downloaded here.

How was it done?

I took a lot of inspiration from Alasdair Rae’s recent AIS tracking maps - he ended up with a really informative but stylish set of maps detailing marine traffic around the UK.

Data on the location of the UK’s 2017 fishing catch was made available by Marine Management Organisation in its recent 2017 annual fisheries statistics report(well worth a read!). This is reported in ICES statistical rectangles - grids of 0.5 degrees latitude and 1 degree longitude. I then summarised the data and calulated the number of points needed in each ICES rectangle for each of the UK nations, with each point represnting ten tonnes of fish. These points were then randomly plotted within each rectangle to represent the density of the catch.

I did all of this in R, which really pushed my limited skills to the limit. But it did allow me to learn a few new tricks, especially for manipulating the spatial data. For those into that sort of thing you can see my (not so elegant) code on GitHub.

Data sources

The data on fishing catch by ICES rectangle comes from the Marine Management Organisation. They publish a range of great statistics on fisheries - their annual sea fisheries statistics publication is well worth a read if you want to get an overview of fisheries.

The ICES statistical rectangles come from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.

To crop the rectangles along the coastline and to show land in the map itself I used the land polygons file from the Natural Earth website.

The bathymetry was downloaded from the NOAA within R using the marmap package.