Ranil Jayawardena is Britain's new fisheries minister.

 

Conservative MP Ranil Jayawardena was appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the new British government of Liz Truss on 6th September.

A position held since 2020 by George Eustice , and which includes fishing. Born in 1986, the new minister responsible for Defra, MP for North East Hampshire since 2015, was part of the previous government, since May 2020, as Minister for International Trade. A graduate of the London School of Economics (LSE), this son of a Sri Lankan and an Indian woman, favorable to Brexit, was appointed vice-president of the Conservative Party by Boris Johnson in 2019.

A little bit of background: 

Ranil Jayawardena was appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 6 September 2022. Previously he was Minister for International Trade from May 2020 to September 2022.

He was elected as the Conservative MP for North East Hampshire in 2015. Ranil went to his local comprehensive school in north east Hampshire and studied government at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Ranil entered Parliament representing his home constituency in 2015, and was re-elected in 2017 and 2019. Before serving as a minister, he was a member of the International Trade, Home Affairs, Procedure and Arms Export Controls Committees, and had been appointed by the Speaker of the House of Commons to the Chairmens’ Panel. He was also made Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party by the Prime Minister. Prior to his election to Parliament, he was a councillor, serving as deputy leader of the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane.

Ranil combined his service in local government with working for Lloyds Banking Group plc and is a freeman of the City of London. He also has wide ranging commercial experience from the pharmaceutical, construction, transport and leisure sectors.

Ranil is married with a son and 2 daughters.

RIP Ken Howard RA - master of light and perspective.

Twelve years ago, almost to the day, I was lucky enough to catch local artist and Royal Academician Ken Howard at work capturing a view of the harbour from the Canners Slip. Ken was religious about his working day that, whether in the studio or 'en plein air', began at 6am. He gave a few minutes of his time but it was obvious that there was a need to work fast as the early morning light was changing by the minute.

This was the subsequent post:

At this time of year when the weather is in two minds and it is either about to rain, or just has, the light in Newlyn has a unique quality. This was the attraction over one hundred years ago for a group of artists that became the Newlyn School as they sought to capture those light tones on canvas.  Today, if you are early enough down among the boats you can catch local artists at work 'en plein' in the early morning light. Today was no exception, with one of the doyens of English landscape artists, Ken Howard, at his easel intent on capturing the constantly changing moody sky above a harbour crowded with boats over the spring tide.

For reference - the photo, in order to apply the correct exposure to the painting on the canvas, is over exposed and has therefore failed to capture the dramatic sky that the artist is in the process of capturing 'contré jour' which translates as 'against the light' - a photograph exposed for the background when taken against the light inevitably causes the subject and foreground to appear as a silhouette.

Howard, born in 1932, dedicated his life's work to capturing the tonal qualities of coastal scenes, not only in the West of Cornwall but also in the Venice. His technically informative video, 'Inspired by Light' is essential viewing for any artist with an interest in his technique. In a long career that began at Hornsey School of Art in the 1950s he has since achieved many of the milestones that similar artists aspire to such as becoming a Royal Academician and more recently the Professor of Perspective at the RA. Early in his career, while serving as a marine in Northern Ireland he was appointed as an official war artist by the Imperial War Museum. His current work is available through his agent Richard Green in London, where he spends much of the year. The Royal Academy of Arts ran a story on him in their summer magazine last year - unable to resist the temptation to give it the strap line, Howard's Way.

Today, in a world of video and digital according to Ken, many art students, seem reluctant to subject themselves to the rigours of the craft of drawing and painting and in learning to apply centuries old techniques like the one he is using above - using his brush to measure proportion from the scene against his canvas - at one time in his career, Ken was Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy...

not all images have such strong and obvious vanishing points as this showing the gangplank leading aboard the Ripple. Different cultures see perspective in different ways.

He made many studies of the light in Newlyn on canvas...

Tim Hall, local marine artist and portrait painter who runs Cornwall Painting Holidays captured Ken Howard to a 'T' in this prize winning portrait of the artist in his Mousehole old school studio.

SW 7efg Regional Fisheries Group meeting

 

The SW (7efg) Regional Fisheries Group meeting takes place on Tuesday this week..

The meeting will take place between16:00 – 18:00 online.

There might be time if anyone has any questions for the MCA please send to the MCA so they can prepare more detailed answers.

The agenda will be of much interest to all those who fish in ICES Area VII e, f and g.

• 2023 Quota consultation 16:05 – 16:25 20 mins Katie James, MMO 16:25 – 16:40 15 Ross Deadman, Defra

• Fly-seining consultation 16:40 – 16:55 15 mins Katie McNally / Phil McBryde, Defra

• Floating wind farms in Celtic Sea 16:55 – 17:10 15 mins Sion Roberts, Crown Estate

• MCA Q&A 17:10 – 17:30 20 mins Laurence Capstick, MCA

• Channel Demersal Non-Quota Species Fisheries Management Plan 17:30 – 17:40 10 mins Jess Duffill Telsnig, MMO

• Shellfish Fisheries Management Plan 17:40 – 17:50 10 mins Lewis Tattersall, Seafish

• Brown Crab 17:50 – 18:00 10 mins Matt Johnson, Helen Hunter, Defra

• AOB 18:00 – 18:05 Survey sent after meeting Rachel Irish, MMO

Fine Monday morning in Newlyn.

If they are there, Cap'n Cod will catch'em...

likewise, Danny finished off a night's work on the sardines and then got the handlines out to top off with mackerel...

a real boost for Barry over the weekend...

there's a market for these guys when caught and kept alive to feed off the lice in Scottish salmon farms...

inshore conger don't come much darker than this...

Cod's arm must have been aching, been a long time since that many kilos came aboard...

George seems to have gone all corporate colourfull...

heading for the end berth at the fish market...

there's a bottom to be scrubbed today...

bigger boats like the Cornishman get the job done on the slip...

the season for trips aboard the restored Newlyn lugger, Happy Return is drawing to a close...

ongoing work on the beam trawler Trevessa IV...

respect, Acionna flying her Union flag at half mast...

another fine start to the day for the lobsterman as he heads away from the gaps.

 

Managing flyseine vessel pressure on demersal Non-Quota Species

The Fisheries White Paper, Sustainable Fisheries for Future Generations, 2018 sets out the UK’s commitment to reshape fisheries management following our departure from the EU. Continuing to champion sustainable fishing and adopting management measures to rebuild and maintain stocks in the long term is central to future management.

Non-Quota Species (NQS) are stocks not subject to a Total Allowable Catch. They are often high value, potentially vulnerable and generally data poor species. The importance of NQS is recognised in the Government’s draft Joint Fisheries Statement where we highlight our intention to manage NQS in future through effort limits, fisheries closures, and technical measures. The JFS also sets out our intention to prioritise the development of management approaches for NQS domestically, through Fisheries Management Plans. This is complemented by our commitments to develop ‘multi-year strategies for the conservation and management of non-quota stocks’ under the UK/EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA).

We have limited data on NQS, limited management and are therefore unable to accurately assess the health and sustainability levels of all NQS stocks that are targeted in English waters. The Fisheries Act sets out the precautionary objective in which the absence of sufficient scientific information is not used to justify postponing or failing to take management measures to conserve target species, associated or dependent species, non-target species or their environment. This consultation will assist in providing more data and also test the limited data (see Annex 1) we have so far.

We have heard significant concerns from the English inshore catching sector and NGOs over the last 18 months about the increasing efficiency of larger flyseine vessels and their impact on demersal NQS stocks. Flyseine vessels tow gear which touches the seabed; demersal fish inhabit the bottom of the sea. There are concerns in particular about the impact of these vessels on stocks such as red mullet, gurnard, and squid in the Channel and southern North Sea. We are seeking further evidence on the impact of current fishing activity on demersal species, including through the Channel Demersal NQS FMP process, but we are conscious of current pressures on the stocks and of not waiting to take action given concerns about the potential vulnerability of demersal NQS.

The proposals in this consultation relate to the impact of certain fishing vessel capacity in English waters. The proposals, in brief, focus on extending current measures (such as applying the 221kw restrictions for beam trawlers in the English 0-12nm to flyseine gear); and/or amending or reviewing existing restrictions (such as the 40mm mesh size derogation for directed squid fishery); and/or bringing in new measures (such as restricting fleet capacity or rope diameter and/or rope length for flyseine gear).

The expectation is that any new technical measures in English waters could come into effect during 2023.

Why your views matter This consultation is an opportunity for you to help shape and influence NQS management policy in England for 2023 and beyond, and builds upon previous engagement with industry.

Please pass on your views using the survey.

Online Survey 

 

Fine #FishyFriday in Newlyn.

 

Brixham registered scalloper, Lass O'Doune makes her first visit and landing to Newlyn...

hopefully it won't be too long before pints are being pulled in the Fisherman's Arms again...

scrap metal from the Scillys, another example of just how beneficial plans to expand Newlyn would be to many activities in the far south west, not just fishing...

on Friday morning's market there's a good range of fish at the auction including these big ling...

line caught mackerel...

trawled John Dory...

netted pollack...

beamtrawled lemons...

and head-on monk...

netted turbot...

and a grumpy looking stone bass...

all fish whisked away asap...

the benign looking blue sky largely hiding the still fresh conditions for those boats currently at sea...

On the death of The Queen.

The Queen's portrait in Fishmongers Hall, London.

  

Aboard the IFCA patrol vessel St Piran, chief engineer Nick Downing lowers the Red Duster to half-mast in respect to the Royal Family and the death of The Queen.

It was only a few weeks ago the then Prince Charles, now Charles III and his wife Camilla, now Queen Consort sampled the delights of Newlyn. His son William and daughter-in-law Kate Middleton are now Duke and Duchess of Cornwall.