Monday morning market in Newlyn.

It might be well over a month since the shortest day but as yet there are no signs of morning light in the sky at 6am in Newlyn...

however, inside the fish market is bright enough...

with red mullet...

turbot...

witches...

and even the odd cuttlefish giving the buyers something to bid on...

but first thing, all eyes are on Ian the auctioneer as he sets about selling hake...

from the Karen of Ladram...

Govenek of Ladram...

and the Stelissa...

there's hake as far as the eye can see in the market's largest auction hall...

next door there are lemons...

megrims...

and monk from the beam trawlers that landed over the weekend...

while the mackerel fridge is stuffed full of fish and fish buyers trying to find the next lot being sold...

in stacks five or more high...

the third auction hall is full of white fish and even a box of roes...

to go with ling...

black bream...

a smattering of bass...

and a bigger landing of pollack...

like this pair from the Stelissa

as Tristan, skipper of the New Dawn sistership to the Stelissa carries out a pollack price check against the price his fish made in Guilvenec this morning - his price making up for the fact that the trip was made etxra-hard going as a succession of gales ran through the grounds he was working - suffering a nor'westerly then sou'easterly gale in the space of 12 hours to give the guys on deck a very uncomfortable day's hauling over the wrecks...

luckily there's always few tub gurnards to brighten up the day...

stacked mackerel ready to go forth....

some sharks remain in UK waters throughout the year, not just in summer...

outside, porters load the forklift pallets...

and begin to whisk fish away from the market...

as Mario, skipper of the Harriet Eve waits to land his weekends haul of crabs and lobsters...

two of the biggest sterns in Newlyn.

Enjoying the magical light in Newlyn on a Saturday morning.

Cold and cloudy start to the Saturday in Newlyn...

and it's the continuing wet weather that has slowed completion of the final touches to Phase II of the market refurbishment which sees the single loading bay still devoid of cement plaster over the blockwork which was finished weeks ago...

heading down the harbour, the netter Charisma heads...

to a berth at the fish market to land her catch of MSC Certified hake...

there are fair-weather sailors and the more hardy type...

Charisma set to land...

as another heavy shower passes by...

Newlyn patina...

the last of Stevenson's fleet tied up against the quay...

à la contré jour, continues to provide artists with suitable opportunities to capture the port in a variety of lighting conditions...

blues and browns...

work on deck on the James RH.

FIS-commissioned report facilitates self-sampling programme across Scottish pelagic fleet

A major step forward in UK fisheries management. How good is it to see fishermen rightly being given the opportunity to provide fishing data in order to determine stock levels using robust methods capable of being used by the scientific community?

‘A welcome opportunity’

Stock assessments can be embroiled in mistrust and uncertainty. Fishermen often question scientific surveys and sampling schemes, and scientists can doubt the reliability of catch data.

Fisheries Innovation Scotland (FIS) asked the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association (SPFA) and the University of Aberdeen to look at opportunities to improve both trust and data quality on either side.

The project, which included the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), Scottish White Fish Producers Association (SWFPA) and Marine Scotland Science, resulted in a feasibility study into a scientific self-sampling programme for the pelagic sector.

Experience shows that successful self-sampling schemes rely on effective feedback to fishermen, particularly in relation to what their data shows and how it is being used. This feedback helps to improve confidence in science and management and reinforces effective collaboration between industry, science and management on achieving sustainable and profitable fisheries.

The pelagic industry lends itself to a self-sampling programme because pelagic fishermen want to engage with science and have a direct stake in the information they generate. They are also early adopters of new innovations and indeed they already record substantial quantities of data that describe where and when they fished, what they caught, and in some cases, environmental and biological information. They are willing, and have the capability and capacity, to do more.

This new FIS report identifies opportunities for the Scottish pelagic industry to collect and contribute relevant data to support the assessment of stocks and management of fisheries. It describes the requirements of a scientific self-sampling programme and what such a programme might look like. It also discusses how self-sampling schemes might help to address information needs in less data rich situations, such as those in demersal and Nephrops fisheries.

The report author, Dr Steven Mackinson, Chief Scientific Officer at the SFPA, said “Working with FIS on this project allowed us to identify the essential building blocks of a successful self-sampling scheme.

“The SFPA, the NAFC Marine Centre and Marine Scotland have already used this information to design a pilot study to collect samples of fish length and weight during the fishing seasons for mackerel, herring and blue whiting. Analysis from this pilot will be used to finalise the design of a self-sampling programme to be implemented across the Scottish pelagic fleet.”

Click here to read the report.

Freezing first #FishyFriday in February!

It's 6am in Newlyn, a new moon joined by Venus and Jupiter all pierce an otherwise inky-black sky over the harbour...

feeling the heat inside the fish market buyers huddle round a full market of beam and netted fish...

like these hake...

from the Govenek of Ladram...

and a few hundred kilos of cuttles...

and ray from the beam trawler Billy Rowney...

that also landed red mullet and weaver fish...

and turbot...

the Twilight III picked up a good shot of megrims for her time at sea...

while the Trevessa IV picked away a trip of monk tails...

and an unusually good haul of winter John Dory, a fish normally associated with clear blue summer skies... 

was also enjoyed by the Twilight III...

while mackerel landings were restricted to  a single box owing to the weather...

although South West beam trawlers provide most of the turbot consumed in restaurants around the UK...

the bulk of their catches comes from hauls of...

megrim...

and Dover sole...

along with fish like haddock which are something of an unavoidable by catch...

 with the market now seeing the results of the Landing Obligation that kicked in on January the 1st - these tubs of perfectly good fish are not being auctioned fr human consumption but will to to landfill or another designated destination...

the final stage of the market refurbishment by Project Link...

 is now complete internally with additional handwash basins...

with their knee-operated hot and cold water taps...

the netters came up with the odd plus-four...

and, a la Peterhead market head-on monk......

an brace of black bream...

and very unusually for a netter, a solitary conger eel caught by the Ajax...

the beaver-like tail of the ling...

and the rich golden hues of the freshest tub gurnard...

go to make up the whitefish part of the Ajax's trip...

looking through the only market door...

Colin can't help but put in a few dance steps on the market floor...

 there's new boxes now arrived for the green team...

while the stacks of harbour boxes have been invaded by a handful of private interlopers...

outside dawn breaks over the harbour...

and St Michael's Mount...

with the promise of blues skies and no rain this will leave young Ben free to work on another replacement fender.

Update on fishing for sea bass in 2019

Revised rules relating to fishing for sea bass apply from midnight 31 January 2019.

Fishing nets
Following the publication of the 2019 Total Allowable Catch Regulation in the official journal of the European Union, the revised rules relating to fishing for sea bass now apply.

Commercial fishing for seabass
Commercial fishing vessels are prohibited from fishing for seabass in ICES divisions 4b and 4c, and in ICES subarea 7 during 01 February to 31 March 2019. Commercial fishing from the shore, within these areas, is prohibited for the entirety of 2019.

Those commercial fishing vessels with authorisation to do so from the MMO may catch and retain bass during 1 April to 31 December 2019. The MMO will be writing to all fishing vessel owners who have a current authorisation to catch and retain bass and providing further guidance on our website soon.

Recreational fishing for seabass
Recreational fisheries, including from shore, in ICES divisions 4b, 4c, 6a, 7a to 7k are limited to catch-and-release only during 01 February to 31 March and 1 November to 31 December 2019. From 1 April to 31 October 2019, not more than one seabass may be retained per fisherman per day.

In recreational fisheries in ICES divisions 8a and 8b, a maximum of three seabass may be retained per fisherman per day.

Published 31 January 2019
From: Marine Management Organisation