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Monday 16 March 2020
Important news: Corovid-19 and supplies of fish to and from fish markets.
Monday morning market in Newlyn.
Most of the fish one the market this morning was from the beam trawler James RH Stevenson...
plaice...
red mullet...
monkfish...
lemon sole...
and big flats like these turbot...
while on the fridge there were a few boxes of line caught pollack...
and mackerel...
speedily taken away to be packed by the porters...
making her way out to sea for a few days hauling around 1200 pots is the crabber, Nimrod...
followed by the inshore crabber Nazarene, expectant gulls following the boat hoping for a few tidbits as the crew cut up bait for the pots...
meanwhile skipper Don on the AA has towed in the Lisa Jacqueline...
after she was fishing in the western channel...
the AA...
then drops the tow as the Lisa re-starts her main engine...
and heads for the gaps...
followed by the AA...
now black but once varnished, Freddie Turner's old Britannia IV heads for the gaps and out to sea.
Sunday 15 March 2020
Interesting piece of reportage from the New York Times on Fishing and Brexit.
BRIXHAM, England — In the pitch black of early morning, huge waves hurled the 30-ton vessel from side to side, drenching crewmen who struggled to keep their footing as they cast the trawler’s nets into the swirling seas.
But, once back on the bridge, the skipper, Dave Driver was oblivious to the stomach-churning motion of the boat, and dismissive of the perils of his work — even as he recalled once falling overboard and, on another occasion, rescuing two fishermen from drowning.
“I’m my own boss, I do what I want, I think it’s the best job in the world,” said Mr. Driver, who left school at age 15, but now owns the 1.2 million pound trawler Girl Debra, named after his wife.
He has only one major gripe in life: the French.
Mr. Driver thinks French boats are allowed to take too many fish too close to the British coast — touching on a deeply emotional issue on both sides of the channel that could dash hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the European Union.
Without the obligations of membership in the bloc, Britain wants to curb the number of continental trawlers in its waters. It is even scaling up its naval protection fleet in preparation for possible confrontations on the high seas.
In rough seas, Kevin Keeble, Kieran Davies and Capt. Dave Driver prepared to set the nets into the sea, where they will trawl the sea bed for four hours.
Yet its fishermen rely on European markets where new trade barriers look certain. And if talks collapse many fear that France’s famously truculent fishermen could blockade ports to stop movements of British fish.
That matters in places like Brixham, in the southwest of England, because the British export most of the fish they catch and import the majority of what they eat.
About one third of the catch landed in Britain’s ports is mackerel, (by weight) a species few Britons will touch. Overall, around four-fifths of the fish caught by British vessels goes abroad, mainly to other European countries.
Most of it is mackerel, herring and shellfish that fetch better prices abroad.
For decades this has been managed through a combination of free trade within the European Union and carefully drawn fishing rights based on historic fishing patterns. French and Dutch fishermen say they are hardly interlopers in Britain’s waters, as their ancestors worked there for centuries.
But Brexit has blown that system apart, and long-held resentments are coming to the surface.
The looming clash is in many ways extraordinary, considering how minute the fishing industry is in the greater scheme of things.
There are just 12,000 British fishermen operating 6,000 vessels and contributing less than one half of one percent of gross domestic product — less, according to one analysis, than Harrods, the upscale London department store.
“I can see a ridiculous amount of political emotion being spent on something that is not economically that important,” said Chris Davies, a former chairman of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee.
Yet a sense of injustice has festered for years in British coastal communities, many of which have little else going for them apart from fish.
The British governments once seemed happy enough to trade fishing for other concessions, downsizing the national fleet, said Mr. Davies, who added that many British fishermen sold their boats and fishing rights to continental competitors.
“There is a huge myth that some have created that they were robbed and it’s just not true,” Mr. Davies added, noting that much British fish is extracted by wealthy corporations rather than independent fishermen like Mr. Driver. Just 13 companies hold 60 percent of British fishing rights.
But gazing back at the English coastline from a few miles out at sea, things look different. If Mr. Driver had his way, foreign vessels would be barred from the first 12 miles of British waters, while British quotas would be expanded.
“The French have the majority of the fish, we just haven’t got enough quota,” said Mr. Driver, reading from a sheet of paper with his monthly cod entitlement.
“Thirty kilos — that isn’t even a box — that’s all I’m allowed, the French they fill up and, with all due respect,” asked Mr. Driver, pointing to the ocean, his voice rising a little, “what’s this piece of water called between England and France? It’s called the English Channel, not the French Channel.”
Around Britain’s coast, about 60 percent of the fish are caught by foreign boats, and one former British minister, Michael Forsyth, recently compared the situation to the British demanding two-thirds of France’s grape harvest.
In the English Channel zone — where Mr. Driver goes to sea — 84 percent of the cod is allocated to France and just 9 percent to the British, according to Barrie Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organizations.
Yet, livelihoods are at stake on the other side of the Channel, too. Standing on the bridge of the Prins Bernhard, preparing to leave the Dutch port of Scheveningen on a 15-day voyage to Ireland’s west coast, Christophe Pauliac described being a captain not as a job, but “a passion.”
Mr. Pauliac’s father, grandfather and uncle were fishermen, and he is in charge of 30 French crew members on this floating fish factory, a large and sophisticated trawler that nets, then pumps up tons of mackerel and herring from the sea.
The fish are sorted and stored in a giant freezer that can accommodate more than 65,000 blocks of fish, each weighing more than 20 kilos, or about 45 pounds.
Excluding the Prins Bernhard from British waters — particularly those off the Scottish coast — would be a “catastrophe,” said Mr. Pauliac, who added that he competes not with smaller trawlers but with Scotland’s fleet of big, efficient, vessels. His boat spends perhaps 70 percent of its time in British territorial waters.
“There is room for everyone,” said Mr. Pauliac — calm, polite and mild-mannered — adding that he hopes for an agreement.
Without a deal, there could be bankruptcies in France. Even crews that spend just 30 percent of their time in British waters would struggle, said Antoine Dhellemmes, director general of France Pelagique, the company that operates the Prins Bernhard.
The European Union wants to base new fishing quotas around Britain on existing ones, and make them of long duration, rather than haggling annually as the European Union does with Norway over fishing rights.
The British want the opposite. But one question is whether the British fishing industry will get the better deal it demands or whether history will repeat itself with London trading fish for finance — or another sector — in a broader trade deal.
Extra costs and delays could drive some merchants, processors and fishermen out of business.
Perhaps the best hope that a deal can be struck is the fact that British fishermen seem to be demanding less than some expected.
In the Cornish port of Newlyn, Andrew Pascoe, talking on the quay side next to his vessel, the Ajax, called for only modest increases in fish quotas and the exclusion of foreign vessels from a zone 12 miles off the British coast. In many areas there is now a six-mile limit for French boats.
“Some fishermen would say ban all foreign trawlers but we couldn’t claim everything back and catch all that fish,” said Mr. Pascoe, who is also chairman of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organizations.
A truck from Portugal routinely meets one of Mr. Pascoe’s boats so that its haul of shellfish can be driven straight to the continent, illustrating the importance of European markets to him. His Portuguese customer has promised to keep the arrangement after Brexit, whatever the extra costs, he said.
But many are unsure that things will go so smoothly.
“We hold the access card and the Europeans hold the market card,” said Sam Lambourn, as he tinkered with the Lyonesse, a catamaran used for sardine fishing in the same port.
“The markets are interrelated and nobody is isolated,” he said, “and anyone who thinks they are not going to be affected is in for a surprise.”
Full story courtesy of the NYT.
But, once back on the bridge, the skipper, Dave Driver was oblivious to the stomach-churning motion of the boat, and dismissive of the perils of his work — even as he recalled once falling overboard and, on another occasion, rescuing two fishermen from drowning.
“I’m my own boss, I do what I want, I think it’s the best job in the world,” said Mr. Driver, who left school at age 15, but now owns the 1.2 million pound trawler Girl Debra, named after his wife.
He has only one major gripe in life: the French.
Mr. Driver thinks French boats are allowed to take too many fish too close to the British coast — touching on a deeply emotional issue on both sides of the channel that could dash hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the European Union.
Without the obligations of membership in the bloc, Britain wants to curb the number of continental trawlers in its waters. It is even scaling up its naval protection fleet in preparation for possible confrontations on the high seas.
In rough seas, Kevin Keeble, Kieran Davies and Capt. Dave Driver prepared to set the nets into the sea, where they will trawl the sea bed for four hours.
Yet its fishermen rely on European markets where new trade barriers look certain. And if talks collapse many fear that France’s famously truculent fishermen could blockade ports to stop movements of British fish.
That matters in places like Brixham, in the southwest of England, because the British export most of the fish they catch and import the majority of what they eat.
About one third of the catch landed in Britain’s ports is mackerel, (by weight) a species few Britons will touch. Overall, around four-fifths of the fish caught by British vessels goes abroad, mainly to other European countries.
Most of it is mackerel, herring and shellfish that fetch better prices abroad.
For decades this has been managed through a combination of free trade within the European Union and carefully drawn fishing rights based on historic fishing patterns. French and Dutch fishermen say they are hardly interlopers in Britain’s waters, as their ancestors worked there for centuries.
But Brexit has blown that system apart, and long-held resentments are coming to the surface.
The looming clash is in many ways extraordinary, considering how minute the fishing industry is in the greater scheme of things.
There are just 12,000 British fishermen operating 6,000 vessels and contributing less than one half of one percent of gross domestic product — less, according to one analysis, than Harrods, the upscale London department store.
“I can see a ridiculous amount of political emotion being spent on something that is not economically that important,” said Chris Davies, a former chairman of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee.
Yet a sense of injustice has festered for years in British coastal communities, many of which have little else going for them apart from fish.
The British governments once seemed happy enough to trade fishing for other concessions, downsizing the national fleet, said Mr. Davies, who added that many British fishermen sold their boats and fishing rights to continental competitors.
“There is a huge myth that some have created that they were robbed and it’s just not true,” Mr. Davies added, noting that much British fish is extracted by wealthy corporations rather than independent fishermen like Mr. Driver. Just 13 companies hold 60 percent of British fishing rights.
But gazing back at the English coastline from a few miles out at sea, things look different. If Mr. Driver had his way, foreign vessels would be barred from the first 12 miles of British waters, while British quotas would be expanded.
“The French have the majority of the fish, we just haven’t got enough quota,” said Mr. Driver, reading from a sheet of paper with his monthly cod entitlement.
“Thirty kilos — that isn’t even a box — that’s all I’m allowed, the French they fill up and, with all due respect,” asked Mr. Driver, pointing to the ocean, his voice rising a little, “what’s this piece of water called between England and France? It’s called the English Channel, not the French Channel.”
Around Britain’s coast, about 60 percent of the fish are caught by foreign boats, and one former British minister, Michael Forsyth, recently compared the situation to the British demanding two-thirds of France’s grape harvest.
In the English Channel zone — where Mr. Driver goes to sea — 84 percent of the cod is allocated to France and just 9 percent to the British, according to Barrie Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organizations.
Yet, livelihoods are at stake on the other side of the Channel, too. Standing on the bridge of the Prins Bernhard, preparing to leave the Dutch port of Scheveningen on a 15-day voyage to Ireland’s west coast, Christophe Pauliac described being a captain not as a job, but “a passion.”
Mr. Pauliac’s father, grandfather and uncle were fishermen, and he is in charge of 30 French crew members on this floating fish factory, a large and sophisticated trawler that nets, then pumps up tons of mackerel and herring from the sea.
The fish are sorted and stored in a giant freezer that can accommodate more than 65,000 blocks of fish, each weighing more than 20 kilos, or about 45 pounds.
Excluding the Prins Bernhard from British waters — particularly those off the Scottish coast — would be a “catastrophe,” said Mr. Pauliac, who added that he competes not with smaller trawlers but with Scotland’s fleet of big, efficient, vessels. His boat spends perhaps 70 percent of its time in British territorial waters.
“There is room for everyone,” said Mr. Pauliac — calm, polite and mild-mannered — adding that he hopes for an agreement.
Without a deal, there could be bankruptcies in France. Even crews that spend just 30 percent of their time in British waters would struggle, said Antoine Dhellemmes, director general of France Pelagique, the company that operates the Prins Bernhard.
The European Union wants to base new fishing quotas around Britain on existing ones, and make them of long duration, rather than haggling annually as the European Union does with Norway over fishing rights.
The British want the opposite. But one question is whether the British fishing industry will get the better deal it demands or whether history will repeat itself with London trading fish for finance — or another sector — in a broader trade deal.
Extra costs and delays could drive some merchants, processors and fishermen out of business.
Perhaps the best hope that a deal can be struck is the fact that British fishermen seem to be demanding less than some expected.
In the Cornish port of Newlyn, Andrew Pascoe, talking on the quay side next to his vessel, the Ajax, called for only modest increases in fish quotas and the exclusion of foreign vessels from a zone 12 miles off the British coast. In many areas there is now a six-mile limit for French boats.
“Some fishermen would say ban all foreign trawlers but we couldn’t claim everything back and catch all that fish,” said Mr. Pascoe, who is also chairman of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organizations.
A truck from Portugal routinely meets one of Mr. Pascoe’s boats so that its haul of shellfish can be driven straight to the continent, illustrating the importance of European markets to him. His Portuguese customer has promised to keep the arrangement after Brexit, whatever the extra costs, he said.
But many are unsure that things will go so smoothly.
“We hold the access card and the Europeans hold the market card,” said Sam Lambourn, as he tinkered with the Lyonesse, a catamaran used for sardine fishing in the same port.
“The markets are interrelated and nobody is isolated,” he said, “and anyone who thinks they are not going to be affected is in for a surprise.”
Full story courtesy of the NYT.
Saturday 14 March 2020
EU approves ban on electric pulse fishing from 2021
The European Parliament and EU member states clinched an agreement late last night (13 February) over new technical conservation measures for fishing, which includes an EU-wide ban on the controversial pulse trawling starting from mid-2021.
The new framework law will simplify the current set of 31 regulations on fishing gear and methods allowed within the EU waters, on the minimum size of fish to be caught, as well as on restricting fishing activities in certain areas or during certain periods.
The negotiations started in May last year, and spanned three rotating EU presidencies: Bulgarian, Austrian and now Romanian.
The debate was tough because of the disputed use of electric currents in water, which held up the entire legislation for months as the Parliament and Council could not find a common position on the subject.
The controversial practice consists of sending electric signals to stun and startle fish away from the seabed before scooping them up in the nets.
Parliament took a firm stance against the activity when adopting its negotiation mandate on 16 January 2018, voting an amendment filed by the leftist GUE/NGL group that prohibits the use of electric fishing. In accordance with their position, MEPs also rejected in June a delegated act that would have allowed electric pulse activities on some areas off the Belgian coast.
EU parliament calls for ban on electric pulse fishing
The European Parliament called yesterday (16 January) for a ban on electric pulse fishing in the European Union, defying Brussels which wants the experimental practice in the North Sea done on a larger scale.
The deal reached last night enables EU member states to immediately prohibit or restrict the use of pulse fishing within their coastal waters, ensuring a phase-out period to allow time for the sector to adapt.
After the deal was struck, the Parliament rapporteur on the file, Spanish MEP Gabriel Mato, said the technique will be prohibited after the transitional period but that the ban “does not impede much-needed innovation” in the fishing sector.
EU’s fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella welcomed the deal, saying that “the new technical conservation measures present an important step forward in delivering on a concrete EU commitment to a sustainable fishing sector and the protection of the marine environment.”
A Dutch spokesperson told EURACTIV.com that the ban on this innovative and sustainable fishing method will now be definite.
“The possibility for a review, however, shows that science still matters when it comes to policymaking in the EU,” the spokesperson added.
French agriculture minister Didier Guillaume hailed the deal on technical measures, saying that the new regulation, encouraged by France, puts an end to the current experimentation of pulse trawling, deemed too loose and insufficiently regulated.
Electric pulse
Catches with pulse trawling were officially banned in 1998, but a system of derogations set up in 2006 has allowed the practice to continue.
Opponents stressed that the technique has negative effects on juveniles and eggs, and also damages marine wildlife.
During the negotiations, a coalition of NGOs and fishing associations led by French group Bloom campaigned against pulse trawling. They asked the European Anti-Fraud Office to investigate whether the Netherlands committed fraud in its promotion of pulse fishing granting a substantial amount of public funds.
Dutch electric fishing in Brussels’ sights
Following a complaint by the NGO BLOOM in October 2017, the European Commission is expected to initiate an infringement procedure against the Netherlands for illegally issuing licenses to trawlers engaging in electric fishing. EURACTIV France’s partner Journal de l’environnement reports.
Better for the environment
Supporters of electric fishing say the technique is safer for the environment than beam trawling because it reduces carbon emissions and lowers fuel consumption.
In June, the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES), an intergovernmental marine science organisation, released a study which said that pulse trawling has a lesser effect on ecosystems than using beam trawls.
Dutch pulse fishing vessels have been experimenting with pulse fishing since 2011 on a larger scale, and the Netherlands fishing association said that an EU ban would not be science-based and hamper innovation in the fishing sector, a position shared also by Greenpeace Netherlands.
On Tuesday (12 February) Dutch fishermen asked negotiators to halt the EU-wide ban call in a demonstration outside the European Parliament.
New research carried out by Wageningen Economic Research highlighted the socio-economic costs of a complete ban on pulse fishing for Dutch fisheries, saying it will result in a sharp reduction in the economic yield per vessel and impact the entire sector.
The ideological split in the EU institutions over electric fishing is also motivated by economic and commercial interests, and pits member states led by France and the UK against the Netherlands.
[Edited by Frédéric Simon]
The new framework law will simplify the current set of 31 regulations on fishing gear and methods allowed within the EU waters, on the minimum size of fish to be caught, as well as on restricting fishing activities in certain areas or during certain periods.
The negotiations started in May last year, and spanned three rotating EU presidencies: Bulgarian, Austrian and now Romanian.
The debate was tough because of the disputed use of electric currents in water, which held up the entire legislation for months as the Parliament and Council could not find a common position on the subject.
The controversial practice consists of sending electric signals to stun and startle fish away from the seabed before scooping them up in the nets.
Parliament took a firm stance against the activity when adopting its negotiation mandate on 16 January 2018, voting an amendment filed by the leftist GUE/NGL group that prohibits the use of electric fishing. In accordance with their position, MEPs also rejected in June a delegated act that would have allowed electric pulse activities on some areas off the Belgian coast.
EU parliament calls for ban on electric pulse fishing
The European Parliament called yesterday (16 January) for a ban on electric pulse fishing in the European Union, defying Brussels which wants the experimental practice in the North Sea done on a larger scale.
The deal reached last night enables EU member states to immediately prohibit or restrict the use of pulse fishing within their coastal waters, ensuring a phase-out period to allow time for the sector to adapt.
After the deal was struck, the Parliament rapporteur on the file, Spanish MEP Gabriel Mato, said the technique will be prohibited after the transitional period but that the ban “does not impede much-needed innovation” in the fishing sector.
EU’s fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella welcomed the deal, saying that “the new technical conservation measures present an important step forward in delivering on a concrete EU commitment to a sustainable fishing sector and the protection of the marine environment.”
A Dutch spokesperson told EURACTIV.com that the ban on this innovative and sustainable fishing method will now be definite.
“The possibility for a review, however, shows that science still matters when it comes to policymaking in the EU,” the spokesperson added.
French agriculture minister Didier Guillaume hailed the deal on technical measures, saying that the new regulation, encouraged by France, puts an end to the current experimentation of pulse trawling, deemed too loose and insufficiently regulated.
Electric pulse
Catches with pulse trawling were officially banned in 1998, but a system of derogations set up in 2006 has allowed the practice to continue.
Opponents stressed that the technique has negative effects on juveniles and eggs, and also damages marine wildlife.
During the negotiations, a coalition of NGOs and fishing associations led by French group Bloom campaigned against pulse trawling. They asked the European Anti-Fraud Office to investigate whether the Netherlands committed fraud in its promotion of pulse fishing granting a substantial amount of public funds.
Dutch electric fishing in Brussels’ sights
Following a complaint by the NGO BLOOM in October 2017, the European Commission is expected to initiate an infringement procedure against the Netherlands for illegally issuing licenses to trawlers engaging in electric fishing. EURACTIV France’s partner Journal de l’environnement reports.
Better for the environment
Supporters of electric fishing say the technique is safer for the environment than beam trawling because it reduces carbon emissions and lowers fuel consumption.
In June, the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES), an intergovernmental marine science organisation, released a study which said that pulse trawling has a lesser effect on ecosystems than using beam trawls.
Dutch pulse fishing vessels have been experimenting with pulse fishing since 2011 on a larger scale, and the Netherlands fishing association said that an EU ban would not be science-based and hamper innovation in the fishing sector, a position shared also by Greenpeace Netherlands.
On Tuesday (12 February) Dutch fishermen asked negotiators to halt the EU-wide ban call in a demonstration outside the European Parliament.
New research carried out by Wageningen Economic Research highlighted the socio-economic costs of a complete ban on pulse fishing for Dutch fisheries, saying it will result in a sharp reduction in the economic yield per vessel and impact the entire sector.
The ideological split in the EU institutions over electric fishing is also motivated by economic and commercial interests, and pits member states led by France and the UK against the Netherlands.
[Edited by Frédéric Simon]
Friday 13 March 2020
Fishless #FishyFriday but what a morning on Newlyn!
Looks like a promising start to the day as the sun throws up a stunning sky over St Michael's Mount and the bay this morning...
with Newlyn bathed in warm hues...
and the beam trawler St Georges...
is prepared for her ride down the slip dead on high water...
with the bulk of the fleet...
including all the netters still in port over the big spring tide...
there's yet more crab pots waiting to be deployed...
as the Admiral Gordon sans one derrick limps over to Penzance dock for repairs...
and the latest vessel to join the fleet in Newlyn heads out through the gaps......
and off to sea...
the St Georges comes down the slip attended by the tug boat...
she fires up her main engine...
and gets a helpful nudge to turn her bow and head back into her berth on the Mary Williams pier.
New Good Fish Guide ratings spell trouble for trawled cuttlefish
The latest update to our Good Fish Guide ratings are out today and we’re sad to see trawl-caught cuttlefish from the English Channel move onto our list of red rated ‘Fish to Avoid’.
 |
| Between 2008 and 2017, catches of cuttlefish more than doubled. |
Charlotte Coombes, MCS Good Fish Guide Manager said: “Between 2008 and 2017, catches of cuttlefish more than doubled. The dramatic increase in catches, alongside several reports identifying a rapid decline in cuttlefish populations in the English Channel, has led to a red rating in the update to the Good Fish Guide.”
Our Good Fish Guide uses a traffic light system to illustrate the sustainability of seafood available in the UK. Species are assessed based on a number of factors, including where they were caught or farmed and using which method. If you eat seafood, our Good Fish Guide can help you make the most sustainable choice.
Other movements include brown crab caught in creels around Shetland joining the green rated ‘Best Choice’ list. This comes after a reduction in fishing pressure and tighter controls on harvesting have helped it to bounce back. Atlantic wolffish caught in Iceland are no longer ‘Fish to Avoid’ and are now amber rated.
Non-certified pole & line-caught skipjack tuna from the Indian Ocean has moved off the Best Choice list and is now amber rated. Finally, all Isle of Man queen scallops are now red rated.
Due to fishing pressure, habitat damage and diminishing numbers, urgent action is required to recover red rated fish populations like the trawl-caught cuttlefish and the Isle of Man queen scallop.
By: Erin O'Neill
Date posted: 12 March 2020
Thursday 12 March 2020
High and low water in Newlyn.
Between gales the fleet take time to make repairs to their trawls - that happens at the end of every trip...
on a beam trawler that means checking all the links and shackles that go to make up the chain mat...
the biggest vessels in the fleet can only go up on the slip during spring tides because they draw so much water aft...
though whether the new Crystal Sea will be able to take advantage of the local slip is highly unlikely as she is already drying out even when in berth...
as with the netter Karen of Ladram, evidence if needed that there may be a need for a major harbour dredging programme if the port is going to continue playing host to modern vessels that increasingly are built with more compact hull that draw much more water than the narrow hulls of years gone by...
the latest addition to the Rowse fleet comes astern to join her sister-ships.
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