Mid-week market in gale-torn Newlyn.

Blown in by gales, the James RH and the Resurgam landed their fish directly to the fish market quay...

their trips included a few John Dory...

big blondes...

fresh bait for the crab fleet...

also landing were Dovers from the St Georges...

and the Algrie with plaice..

lemons...

and megrim...

squid...

red mullet...

a handful of octopus...

and turbot, all auctioned...

by Ryan and recorded traditional pen and paper...

together with a few dozen scallops...

and well spotted plaice...

the heavy beam trawls are spread across the deck after an uncomfortable ride back to port in the south easterly gale...

the home-made fishwasher still pumped with seawater...

another passer-by held up by the inclement weather...

along with the Crystal Sea II...

and some of the Rowse crab fleet...

Ocean Fish and Stevensons beam trawlers are now all under the same roof...

a packed port...

some new signage has given the new fish market building a finishing touch...

as a Quayside artic is guided into a parking spot.

Can you help raise the start up costs for Fal Fishery Cooperative Community Interest Company?!

Cornwall and the River Fal are home to one of the most traditional and environmentally friendly fisheries in the UK. Using sail power alone, a small fleet of sailing oyster boats are worked throughout the winter months fishing for native oysters. This intrepid group of fishermen are looking to raise £2,000 to help with start up costs for Fal Fishery Cooperative Community Interest Company that Aquaculture and Research grant applications don't cover.

The Fal Fishery has possibly the last indigenous native oyster stocks left in the British Isles, while other fisheries can import natives the Fal Oyster Fishery Bylaws prohibits importing or relaying in the River Fal. As a consequence, a Principle Scientific Officer wrote "I fear we may be at a density (1 per 20 square metres) of native oyster (O. edulis ) that would make successful reproduction incredibly difficult". 

The group's aim is to save the natives from exportation, to store them at an aquaculture site in the epicentre of the fishery, to study the juveniles growth and mature reproduction timings, to sell only the medium grade when they reach the Fal Oyster PDO standard, all the while we are doing this they are repopulating the natural fishery with a genetically resilient species. Working with University of Exeter (Penryn Campus), Bangor University and National Lobster Hatchery (Padstow) as well as the licenced Fal Oyster Gatherers and Fal Oyster Ltd.

You can help make this happen by supporting the group's work here.

Monday morning in Newlyn.

Sardine netter Lyonesse heads back to her berth after a long night's fishing in the bay...

the bulk of fish landed this morning came from the netter, Silver Dawn

plenty of quality fish on the market this morning with red mullet...

turbot...

more reds...

a box of octopus...

plenty of bait from the Sapphire II...

some large ray...

end of season scallops...

and an unusually good haul of John Dory from none other than...

the port's number 1 Dory man, young Roger Nowell on the Imogen III...

not to be outdone, all the bass boys weighed in with good shots of bass, all caught with lines by hand...

along with plenty of mackerel from the boats working over in St Ives Bay...

a few of the handline boats picked up the odd pollack...

while Mr Nowell had the darkest of dark blue lobsters...

and a few plaice...

while the beam trawlers filled the centre auction hall with monk, megrims, lemons, Dover sole and more plaice...

the port recycles the frames of filleted fish for crab bait...

mackerel, available in Penzance's one and only wet fish shop at the bottom of town...

looks like it will be an uncomfortable week at sea for the netters with strong easterly winds forecast, which doesn't bode well for any of the boats working away, "when the wind is in the East, the fishing is least" as an old saying goes in these parts...

time to stack the fish...

 for delivery back to the processing units scattered around the port...

the future may be orange fr some but at the moment the Le Men Du is anything but bright with her undercoat coat of paint...

more shellfish boats having a makeover.