Cornwall with Simon Reeve - bit of an eye-opener for some it seems.

Simeon Reeve's first, in a two-part series on Cornwall last night had many found their finger hovering on the channel-changer in the first ten minutes devoted to all things pasties and cream - then things changed. What followed was, at times, a hard to watch insight into a side of Cornwall well hidden from the quiet queues for a table at our Michelin-starred restaurants and second-homes where some owners used courier companies to ferry their luggage down during lockdown so as to avoid detection when travelling.

Fishing also featured earlier Countryfile, both programmes covering small-scale fishing with a sense of belonging for those involved, looking to secure the long term viability of shellfish, be it lobster or oyster. While Countryfile looked at 'saving Ester' (Cornish for oyster) a very noble cause to preserve the native oyster fishery Simon Reeve, set on discovering a different world dug deeper, from the depths of world's largest China clay pit then, literally as he drove down South Crofty tin mine under Camborne Tesco he then cut to Camborne foodbank hero, Don Gardner, a man selflessly helping to preserve people's lives. In that short time there was more than a touch of irony juxtaposing Chris Ranger's huge effort to preserve a traditional, totally eco-frendly, way-of-life oyster fishery to feed the Duchy's well-heeled visitors with a man's solo effort to save 500 families from starving within an area that once was home to more millionaires than any other place in the world - which was not lost on social media:

If nothing else, the programme brought home the reality of life living in an area where the English obsession with home ownership has allowed house values to appreciate out of all proportion to their affordability in areas where the average wage is way below the National average. Although all are free to choose to whom they sell your house, home owners in Cornwall are bound by the free-market economy - no-one in their right mind is going to sell their cottage in Mousehole to that young local couple for an affordable price when they can get £320,000 for their tiny 2 bedroom end-of-terrace cottage. On a winter walk though Mousehole's narrow streets you can count the number of homes with lights on with one hand, as harbourmaster Steve Basset said in Ghost Town, a film about second home ownership in St Ives, often even less.

Roger Bryant's song, 'Cornish Lads are Fishermen' sums up the dilemma faced by the young, and not so young, people of Cornwall.,

"Cornish lads are fishermen and Cornish lads are miners too. But when the fish and tin are gone, what are the Cornish boys to do?"

The BBC's description was thus:

Simon Reeve travels through glorious Cornwall during a summer like no other, as the county emerges from lockdown and businesses are in a race to survive. 

Cornwall is hugely reliant on tourism and the pandemic has highlighted how precarious people’s livelihoods are. In this first of two programmes, Simon journeys through some of the most beautiful coastal locations Britain has to offer and meets the incredible Cornish characters who make the county unique.

For the Taco Boys, a group of enterprising young entrepreneurs selling their homemade food on the beach, lockdown has been a disaster, and they must now put everything into earning enough money to make it through the winter when all their work dries up. Like many of the young people Simon meets, they are forced by the precarious tourist economy to live in temporary accommodation to make ends meet. Later in his journey, Simon meets a woman who lives in a shed and who blames the thousands of outsiders who own second homes and have forced housing prices to almost London levels in one of the poorest parts of Britain.

Before tourism became so huge, this was a county built on mining. Britain’s biggest mineral export after North Sea oil is still china clay mined in Cornwall, but just like the better known coal mines in the North of England and Wales, the collapse of Cornwall’s tin mining industry in the 1980s left whole communities bereft. Simon visits one of the poorest estates in Britain to see what hope locals have for the future and meets an ex-mining engineer who has set up one of Britain’s biggest food banks.

The pandemic has brought into focus just how reliant Cornwall is on tourism and seasonal work, but Simon learns how new industries and even a return to mining could promise a better future. Going back to Cornwall at the end of the summer, Simon learns how the people he’s met up with have fared and whether fears that the tourist influx could bring Covid-19 with it have come true. 

Where will episode two take us next Sunday?

'Blue' growth: It's not just about the NGOs.

 

Here are the conclusions of the study published by the Transnational Institute in October 2018 and translated into French. An interesting reflection to consider in the debate on marine spatial planning and the development of wind farms.

"The millions of people who until now depend on the marine space for their lives and livelihoods - especially small-scale artisanal fishermen - have for the most part not been invited to the blue party."

The concept of Blue Growth is broad and ambiguous, the site of many visions and ideologies. This vagueness has made it possible to attract a motley coalition of actors, who can all project their own interpretations on these political programs. For some it is about conservation and renewable energies, while in practice offshore drilling remains intact. Wrapping blue growth with a layer of sustainability helps alleviate growing concerns about global warming, and becomes profitable through sustainable tourism and large-scale Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This is the conservation formula.

For others, it is a transition to aquaculture, which transfers ocean space to other uses and avoids having to deal with the problem of declining fish stocks, and the growing need for food derived from peaches or other ingredients such as soybeans, rapeseed, sunflower and wheat. This is the protein formula.

Finally, maritime spatial planning at the national level concretely prioritizes the sectors that generate the greatest profit, in particular oil, gas, maritime transport and mining. This approach also offers more possibilities to take advantage of existing infrastructure and expertise in the development of alternative energies and aquaculture. This is the energy / extractive formula.

As understandable as the Blue growth agenda is, irreconcilable ecological and social contradictions remain. And environmental and social conflicts will be accentuated, as long as these contradictions remain. As with previous historic instances of enclosures and changes in regulatory regimes, heads of state appear to primarily see blue growth as a means of resolving conflicts between competing ocean industries. And this is happening against the backdrop of the coercive imperative to ensure that the components of growth rates are needed by all means.

Blue Growth thus manifests itself as a balancing act which consists in defining these attempts as 'sustainable' and in the interest of all. However, it is important to highlight that the millions of people who so far depend on the marine space for their lives and livelihoods - especially small-scale artisanal fishermen - have for the most part not been invited to participate. blue party. This poses very complicated political questions for the fishing movements and their allies. Some are trying to get an invitation to join the blue economy, believing that this is the safest way to secure their rights to their fishing grounds. Others on the contrary are more skeptical,

Coexisting with the ever greater development of ocean industries is not easy for fishermen: the spaces on which they depend for their livelihoods are quickly overrun with plans for new ports, tourist facilities, waterways. maritime transport, and new aquaculture operations. And if they can defend a particular area, the combined impact of construction, contamination and climate change means that it is less and less likely that that area will be full of fish. To survive, they have to go farther and farther out to sea, which increases their fuel costs as well as their exposure to the dangers of the ocean and possible conflicts with industrial fishing fleets. For many, the fishery is no longer viable.

In view of the already collapsing fishing stocks, the need for an approach to fishing with environmental and social sensitivity will increase. This is more obvious to small-scale artisanal fishermen than to others, but the terms of entry into the Blue Growth Festival make it impossible for fishermen to survive and meet such standards. This is where the terrible secret lies at the heart of blue growth: the appetite for the oil, gas, minerals, protein, and conservation that feed and shape this agenda is inherently unsustainable. The tripartite contract with conservation formulas,

The Blue Formula: 

Unmasking the political dynamics behind the promise of Blue Growth 

Saturday November 7, 2020 Fisheries and Development Bulletin n ° 182, November 2020 

Seine netting: in the English Channel and elsewhere, artisanal fishermen are worried published

The seine net, a rotating net manouvered on the bottom, is often presented as the fishing gear of the future. In the eyes of its supporters, it would provide better quality fish than the trawl, for a lower environmental impact. On the side of the craftsmen, the sound of the bell is very different. So we decided to investigate, and this article is the first in a series of articles about this controversial fishing gear. 

In addition to the testimonies of many craftsmen who declare that the Danish seine can “temporarily empty certain fishing areas”, there is clearly evidence that this fishing gear is not unanimous: while the regional fisheries committees of Hauts-de- France and Vendée have clearly positioned themselves in favour of the Danish seine, the regional fisheries committee of Brittany has always maintained the ban on Danish seine within 12 miles of Breton waters. Indeed, as evidenced by this press release from CDIPMEM56 dated 20/04/2019:

“This opposition reflects the opinion of the vast majority of fishermen in Morbihan. It is also based on a deliberation by the Brittany Regional Fisheries Committee on December 19, 2013; deliberation signed by Olivier Le Nezet and which stipulates that: "Within the waters falling within the area of ​​the Regional Committee for Maritime Fisheries and Marine Breeding of Brittany, the use of Danish seines is prohibited" [...] Furthermore, the Fisheries Committees of the four Breton departments share exactly the same opinion regarding the refusal of Danish seine in Breton waters. ”

Complete press release here: Le-CDPMEM56-recalls-its-opposition-to-the-Danish-seine-in-Breton-waters-CDPMEM-56  

The Breton fishermen are not the only ones to have publicly announced their refusal of the Danish seine. A recent incident in Ciboure is a reminder of this strong opposition and the tensions it can generate. In April 2019, the Lucien fishermen prevented a purse seiner from landing at the Ciboure Auction, as evidenced by various press articles on the subject:

“Anger had been mounting for a fortnight when these ships which usually remained north of Arcachon were observed for the first time off the ports of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Capbreton. It therefore rose a notch at the start of the week. “We now know the effects. Where they pass, there is nothing, they massacre everything ”, justifies a fisherman from Lucerne. “After having plucked all the north, these boats will come to pluck the south? There is no question. We made a mistake once by letting the pelagics come in, we won't be fooled twice ”, continues another.”

Many artisanal fishermen therefore question the use of Danish seine, such as the Plateforme de la Petite Pêche Artisanale or the Association des Ligneurs de la Pointe de Bretagne. These two structures have always opposed it, as evidenced by a press release dated July 6, 2016 where the “small fishing” segment testifies:

“Any fisherman who has ever had to deal with a purse seiner can attest to their ability to clear a fishing area in record time, leaving all colleagues on the mat. Where the dormant arts could coexist with the trawlers, it is now impossible with the Danish seine! ”

The press release in question: http://www.plateforme-petite-peche.fr/?p=435

Finally, recently, many artisanal fishermen from Hauts-de-France and Normandy have taken part in the Danish seine on social networks, and these publications have had a strong resonance in the world of fishing. In particular, screenshots of AIS showing the quantity of Danish purse seiners registered in Holland and France, and sometimes working in the 3 mile zone, have set the profession in turmoil.

Among other things, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the recent landing of dozens of auction crates filled with sea bream and red mullet of equivalent sizes or even less than the legal catch size ... strongly mobilized fishermen, especially as these species are sought after by the “small-scale fishing” and “coastal fishing” segments. By observing these tanks of red mullet, we can also question the supposed quality of the fish caught with the Danish seine, these photos speak for themselves:


On the left, red mullet caught with Danish seine and landed in Boulogne-sur-Mer in November 2020 (the black lighter gives an idea of ​​the small size of the fish) 

Red mullet fished with a net by the Petits Pêcheurs d'Iroise https://www.facebook.com/ligneur

In a future article, we will question the role of SCOPALE, an armament belonging to the Les Mousquetaires and Le Garec groups and to the Opale Cooperative, in the transformation of the fisheries of the North and Normandy. At this stage of the investigation, it seems legitimate to question the use of the Danish seine in the 12 mile zone, and it seems clear that no derogation should allow the use of this gear in the 3 mile zone. . The opposition of artisanal fishermen, all regions combined, must be heard and respected, especially as it is based on a factual observation made at sea.

by Thibault Josse November 3, 2020 translated by Google.

Fishing for Cornish sardines aboard the Golden Harvest.

 

Heading out from Newlyn at first light, skipper Danny Downing finds a mark of fish under the cliffs that surround Porthcurno and are home to the Minack Theatre. Within minutes, the boat's ring net is shot over the stern and encircles a shoal of unsuspecting sardines. Not until the net is brought alongside and the foot-rope hauled aboard to close or 'ring' the fish is the catch a certainty. On this occasion, 21 tons of the finest Cornish sardines are held captive in the net alongside the boat until pumped aboard into three ice-chilled seawater tanks.

Golden Harvest, skippered by Danny Downing, is a member of the Cornish Sardine Management Association, a group of Cornish fishermen and processors who came together in 2004 to agree common standards between themselves for catching, processing and marketing Cornish Sardines. 

The aims of the Association are:

• to maintain the quality of the catch 
• instil methods to protect the stocks 
• manage and record the catches 
• to develop the marketing of the product

The owners of the fifteen ring net vessels and the four local sardine processors are members of the Cornish Sardine Management Association who between them catch and process over 95% of the Sardine caught in the fishery. 

Once, when sardines were known as pilchards, they contributed to a huge industry that provided 'meat, fish and light, all in one night' throughout every port and cove in Cornwall. For over two hundred years most of the sardines caught were cured in salt and exported to Italy in wooden casks, as this invoice for pilchards exported from Mevagissey indicates.

The last survivor of these once great pilchard processing houses was the Pilchard Works in Newlyn, owned by Nick Howell who, working with fisherman Martin Ellis from Cadgwith, was the primary driving force in re-introducing the fishery to Cornwall back in the 1990s and ultimately the creation of today's Sardine Management Association. Sadly, the Pilchard Works museum and factory cured its last batch of sardines in 2009, though the company continues to produce tinned sardines thanks to a canners in Brittany.

In 2007, under the EU’s protected names scheme, the name ‘Cornish sardine’ was granted the Product of Geographical Indication (PGI) status, meaning that sardines can only carry that name if the fish are caught within six miles of the Cornish coast, landed and processed within the county of Cornwall or the port of Plymouth. A business wanting to use the PGI logo must be registered with Defra to do so.

In 2010, the Cornish Sardine Fishery was certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), meaning that north Atlantic sardines caught by CSMA members within the six mile limit off the coast of Cornwall and landed into Cornwall may carry the MSC logo. These conditions were recently expanded to include sardines from the same area being landed and processed in Plymouth. Fish processors, merchants and retail outlets may label sardines caught off the Cornish coast with the MSC logo, provided they have suitable chain of custody arrangements in place, linking the sardines back to a CSMA fishing member. The Cornish fishery was re certified by the MSC Marine Stewardship Council in March 2017.

For more information visit the Cornish Sardine Management Association website.

Head-on monk on Monday morning's market in Newlyn

Trips from two boats made up the bulk of fish for Monday's market with a handful of herring...

and mackerel...

and mullet from the Phoenix thrown in for good measure...

the netter Ocean Pride stuck out some pretty harsh weather...

to bring the buyers the only MSC Certified hake that will see the market this week...

sometimes a simple hug is all that is needed...

as auctioneer Ian tries to get the best possible price for...

these head-on monk landed by the Spanish Flag of Convenience netter Monte Mazantu - there's a meeting later this week with national fishermen's organisations and the Defra where fishermen's representatives will be pushing hard to see that flag of convenience vessels are forced to land at least 70% of their annual catch to UK markets - at present a tiny fraction of the many millions of pounds of fish caught by these boats is landed onto lorries and shipped back to Spain, Belgium or Holland and the fish sold there giving no direct financial benefit to the UK whatsoever - other than the rather curious practice of counting all the existing landings towards our GDP...

unlike most Cornish boats which cut the heads off monk and often discard them...

Spanish boats make a small incision in the belly of the monk and simply gut them to maximise their return on the catch...

big plaice featured in the beam trawler Cornishman's catch...

along with a few big butt...

bidding was brisk on the monk...

as the porters quickly hauled their respective buyer's purchases from the auction floor...

with the entire fleet tied up for weather...

buyers are left wondering if they will see any more fish on the market before the week is out...

Newlyn is never short of the unusual...

time for the artic to head back to base...

with no sign of a let up in the weather which has seen some severe winds hit the UK for five days now...

many of the local netting fleet fished through 50 knots of wind...

to put ashore their trips of MSC Certified hake...

while any boats fishing out at Rockall during the last few days will have experienced the sobering view of looking up to the tops of the waves breaking astern of them - and that's from the wheelhouse some 20 feet above sea level - a reminder, as if needed, of the price of fish. Video courtesy of Shaun McClenaghan aboard the Northern Celt from earlier this year.

 

Large fleet of Japanese fishing vessels - at Rockall!

 

There's a fleet of ten large Japanese fishing vessels working west and south west of Rockall...

they have been searching as far north as the east coast of Iceland...

in their hunt for tuna...

most have come through the Panama Canal after steaming across the Pacific and then the Atlantic Oceans to fish here...

others have been fishing off the west coast of Africa and Rockall since January of last year...

south-west of them again is a solitary Korean tuna boat...

which hasn't seen a Korean shore for over two years.

Behind the Scenes: North End Shipyard

Harking back to the days when Hull and Grimsby supported huge distant water fishing fleets. 

 

 

Behind the Scenes for MaritimeTales: The North End Shipyard, part two. Bill and Cliff talk about their experiences of working at the dockyard during different periods of the fishing industry.