Mid-week in Newlyn.

Sun's up but only just visible...

from behind the Mount...

as heavy showers crawl eastwards across the bay...

as the Orion, first of this season's Scottish prawn trawlers arrives in Newlyn...

though she will only land her excess whitefish on Newlyn's shiny new market...

with a poor forecast and big tide most of the fleet are tied up...

including the Brixham beam trawler Angel Emiel BM55...

two new crabber recruits laying ahead of their big sister, Intuition...

and sisters Harriet Eve and the Nirmod...
 

good to see the Ygraine in action again... 

Ocean and Falfish kind of go head-to-head...

good to see a visiting boat up on the slip, all grist to the harbour's mill...

what a difference some serious TLC has made to the Fishermen's rest on the Old Quay...

these huge pots are not used used to catch crab or lobster...

but the 'bait' inside them might just be a clue...

heading in after an uncomfortable ride home from the grounds...

40 and 50 miles to the south of Newlyn...

the netter Govenek of Ladram makes it to the fish market to land for tomorrow's auction...

while the rest of the netting fleet are safely in berth.

Fishermen's representatives head for today's Discard Action Group meeting.

Today's Discard Action Group meeting is at Friends House in London and will run from 10.00am to 4.00pm.

Stay in touch with the meeting on Twitter using the hashtag #SeafishDAG

AM Compliance with the landing obligation

• Three months in - how is 2019 going? Mike Park, SWFPA and Jaswinder Kaur, Defra.
• MSC consideration of the Landing Obligation in fishery assessment. Tim Davies, Marine Stewardship Council. 
• Discussion between Government and the supply chain on evidencing full compliance with the LO. Jaswinder Kaur, Defra.

AM Ways to evidence, map and monitor compliance and aid spatial avoidance.

• Electronic monitoring as a compliance tool. Norman Fletcher, Marine Scotland.
• Norwegian use of reference fleets. Tom Clegg, Norwegian Marine Research Institute.
• Shetland Fishermen’s Association paper on reference fleets. Simon Collins, SFA.
• A new mapping app to identify discard hotspots. Julia Calderwood. Marine Institute.

PM Showcasing how far industry has come in improving selectivity.

• Overview of DiscardLess. Kenny Coull, SWFPA.
• Showcase/case studies of new selectivity devices and how they are being used. The session will include recent video footage and will be an opportunity to quiz the skippers themselves. We will have footage of David Milne, Jimmy Buchan, James Stephen and Paul Robertson.

Because unity is strength, thirteen Breton ports are grouped together

Last Friday saw official launch in Concarneau of "Fishing Brittany". The name of the brand new inter-port Breton group, which brings together the thirteen Breton ports with fish auctions. The goal is to unite to be stronger and more competitive.

Brittany is now a single port, with thirteen ports spread over the four departments. This regional joint initiative of Brittany, the departments of Côtes d'Armor, Finistère, Lorient Agglomération and the Mixed Union of fishing ports and marinas of Cornouaille, the inter-port grouping "Fishing Brittany" was launched this Friday in Concarneau in Finistère . The union aims to coordinate their actions by involving all the players in the sector. The idea is to strengthen the competitiveness of the Breton fishery, which represented 91,300 tons in 2018. 

These 13 ports are those with auctions:

Quiberon, Lorient, Concarneau, Guilvinec, Loctudy, Saint-Guenole, Douarnenez, Audierne, Brest, Roscoff, Erquy, Saint-Quay-Portrieux and Saint-Malo.

Increased competition with the imminence of Brexit

This grouping is a first in the field in response to three issues, first to harmonise and coordinate the different practices between the thirteen auctions, to enhance the value of fishery products and finally, strengthen the competitiveness of the industry sector by developing synergies, in particular. A national leader in the sector, but which is today in a competitive context increasingly strong, accentuated in recent months by the imminence of Brexit.


A report courtesy of France3 and Gwenaëlle Bron, Stéphane Soviller and Richard Gurgand - Interviews: Loïg Chesnais-Girard, President of the Brittany region - Michaël Quernez, President of the Cornouaille joint fishing-pleasure trade union

Clearly shown in this report is the kind of remote computer auction common to many Breton fish markets.

Brittany: a port with 13 fishing ports.

Pêche de Bretagne associates the ports belonging or falling within the competence of the 5 partners, and in the first place the 13 ports having an auction, with 91 300 tons sold in auction in 2018:

The 5 ports under the responsibility of the Region: Lorient (1st French port with a volume of 22,680 t), Roscoff (4,800 t), Brest (1,920 t), Saint-Malo (1,500 t), Quiberon (1,350 t) tons)

The 6 fishing ports of Cornouaille under the Syndicat Mixte Fishing and Recreational Ports of Cornouaille: Guilvinec (17,100 tons, 1st French port in terms of value), Saint-Guénolé (7,700 t), Douarnenez (5,150 t) ), Concarneau (3,470 t), Loctudy (2,440 t), Audierne (1,130 t);

The two ports belonging to the Department of Côtes d'Armor: Erquy (11,710 t) and Saint-Quay-Portrieux (10,340 t).

Lifejacket survey - fishermen, your help is required!

Dear participant,

Have you fished commercially or professionally in the last year? 

If so, then please take this survey on your personality and habits of commercial fishermen wearing personal flotation devices (PFDs) while working at sea.


https://vubpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a3nMYjZwFH8ELg9

This study is conducted by Jennifer Pickett and Joeri Hofmans of Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. This survey will take approximately 15 minutes.

The aim of this questionnaire is to better understand a bit about you and the reasons why commercial/professional fishermen do or do not wear a PFD while on deck. The survey is anonymous and participation is voluntary and you may stop at any time without giving any reasons. I appreciate your honest answers! Stay safe and good fishing. You can email her here if you would like more information. 

The difference that wearing a suitable lifejacket or PFD can make to survival and preventing death in the case of falling overboard was brought home only to vividly last month when a crew-member from a Brixham based beam trawler went over the side, at might, in heavy seas.

Remember, this winchman said he had been rescuing fishermen from the sea for over 20 years but this was the first time the casualty was live - thanks to him wearing a lifejacket.

"This is an incredible rescue story. We got the call to help just 5 minutes after the fisherman had fallen overboard. Despite horrendous weather conditions on scene with winds in excess of 60 knots, we were preparing ourselves for an extensive search and rescue operation. The fishing crew had done all the right things and even from a distance we quickly spotted the smoke marker and the life ring they had released.

"The fisherman was spotted by his crew about 40m on the starboard side of his fishing vessel, some 400m away from smoke marker position.

"We flew towards that position and saw the casualty immediately as he was wearing a reflective life jacket. We lowered our winchman into the water in very rough conditions and conducted a double winch recovery which only took about 2 minutes.

"Once on board we flew straight to Derriford Hospital and handed him over to AandE department, where we have now heard that he's doing well and in good spirits".

Captain Jörg Brunner, HM Coastguard Newquay helicopter

"I’ve been doing search and rescue for nearly 20 years and Reegan was the first fisherman I’ve taken out of the water who was conscious and alive, but he was also the first fisherman I took out of the water wearing a lifejacket." 

Powerful words from Winchman ‘Spike’ Hughes

Danish fishing TV series - Episode 1 The Difficult Start.

In the first program in the series West coast fishermen - The Difficult Start. We meet four fishermen and get their story about how they ended up on the sea.

We follow the fishermen and the fish's way from hand to mouth. A series of documentaries in six programmes, which follow different fishermen each using different types of fishing. In the programs you can meet 8 fishermen from the three west coast ports of Hvide Sande, Thorsminde and Thyborøn. The fishermen have different approaches and attitudes to the profession. We meet both young and old fishermen. Some are first generation fishermen and still following in the trail of their father and grandfather. The programme looks at both large and small vessels.

Rare Cornish salmon landed on Newlyn fish market.

With so much fish passing through the fish auction last week and a full market this morning... ...

 many merchants haven't had the chance to return the harbour boxes...

so consequently some of the boats have had to use their own boxes for their fish to be auctioned in this morning...

this time of year is always good for big ray landings...

and big ray...

there were even some incredibly rare Cornish salmon, not seen on the market in Newlyn for years...

Butts would have loved to have caught a few of those on his hooks...

he and other boats were able to catch ling...

and pollack...

the cuttle season is all but over it seems...

so boats like the Twilight III went looking for Dover soles...

also picking up a good haul of red mullet...

enough to put  a smile on the buyers' faces...

the sum total of the Twilight's cuttle cephalopod haul...

both beam trawlers and trawlers like to target flatfish like these plaice...

or megrim or witches, but which is the megrim and which is the witch...

and which is the sand sole and which is the Dover sole...

good shot of lemons from Nigel's Ocean Harvest...

another rare fish, the variegated cuttlefish, or to give it its correct scientific name maximus pistakus...

all four market chill rooms were full of fish...

right through and including the grader section...

along with a mackerel fridge full of St Ives Bay mackerel from, the St Ives men...

there were also big shots of pissers this morning...

and bot hard and soft roes...

cracking red gurnards...

and a whole tub of spider crab...

Brackan picked up a few good John Dory in his trip...

with the clocks having gone forward this morning was dull, dark and dismal outside...

where the newly completed loading bay waits for its next customer...

all quiet down the Mary Williams pier...

and pontoons this morning...

work still continues apace on the Galilee...

while she undergoes DoT work the trawl from the Billy Rowney is being kept under wraps so that it doesn't get wet...

the Spirited Lady III rests outside the boat she wants to be like when she grows up...

the ex-French langoustine trawler now named Northern Osprey.