John Nelligan RIP - the death of a fisherman from a different era.

Looking back to the 70s and 80s, though it might not have seemed like it at the time, South West ports like Newlyn were buzzing with fishermen, boats and fish.

Fishermen were learning that action through unity (though it has to be said, the incumbent government (and current) failed them on issues like an exclusive 12 mile limit) was needed to help protect the fleet, in particular the huge inshore handline fleet...

from winter visitors; displaced Grimsby and Hull distant-water stern trawlers...

and an all-powerful Scottish purse seine fleet chasing the mammoth mackerel shoals...

then, a group of visionary fishermen led by George Lawry and his wife Daphne set up the CFPO (Cornish Fish Producers Organisation) to protect and fight for a better fishing future - in it's first big fight, the CFPO was instrumental in bringing pressure to bear and the introduction of the protective 'mackerel box' that exists to this day...

but the times they were a'changing, the bulk of the bigger boats that had been longlining for decades...

changed over to multi- then mono-netting for white fish, and soon to include hake...

the port record, long held by the most powerful boats in the port, was smashed by the 37ft tosher, Boy Gary...

netting for dogs...

as the fleet diversified and the tiers grew to fifteen or more boats deep...

Newlyn harbour was dredged and the 'new quay' built to reduce the size of tiers and allow landing at all states of the tide...

the ageing fleet of wooden sidewinders was supplemented by...

rebuilt and an equally ageing fleet of ex-MFV wooden beam trawlers...

 

along with a growing number of steel ex-Dutch beam trawlers that were to dominate landings well into the 2000s...

meanwhile, the French boats, who sheltered in numbers in Newlyn...

 only in the most severe weather...

replaced their entire fleet in a matter of years with fully shelterdecked steel stern trawlers...

apart from netting boats diversified from traditional fisheries and methods and tried pair trawling, prawn trawling, wreck netting, tangle netting and more, there seemed plenty of fish to feed a growing number of boats all of which needed crewing...

there was even a Fishermen's Mission in Newlyn staffed to provide for the welfare and an amenity for the dozens of men living aboard visiting vessels...

at that time, the number of skipper-owners increased, one such venture saw the ex-Lorient Keriolet bought by Andrew 'Traz' Treloar after realising the crawfish fishery he had prosecuted was finished he saw a future... 

along with many other similar skippers in trawling - this band of brothers became known as the 'clan'.

Despite the skills needed, there were plenty of willing men (and a few women) keen to take on the fishing way of life which promised something way more attractive than a mundane shore job with bigger financial rewards to boot - even though that meant that, as share-fishermen, there was no job security or guarantee of a berth, wage, equal or sick pay, or any other of the niceties that trade unions had fought so hard for as a matter of right in regular shore employment - fishermen had but three 'rights', the right to be fed at sea, the right to be re-patriated from a port other than their own and, most crucially, the right to see the settling sheet (a record of all the fish landed from the trip and how much it made at auction) - though there were some boats for whom even that was a problem - but that did't stop the flow of new recruits...

and, so it was that guys like John Nelligan found themselves learning fast: to mend, to splice, to take a watch and to handle fish - here he's seen behind s good haul of prawns gutting a hake aboard the Keriolet SS114, trawling on the Smalls...

and here, with his summer headgear, helping skipper Traz make fast a full cod end with ...

a scene wonderfully re-created in charcoal by local artist Nick Henshaw. 

John's time aboard the Keriolet and other fishing boats about that time epitomised the freedoms and fortunes of the era. It's hard to imagine today, but back then there were no official log books, other than that kept by some skippers, no VMS, rarely any crew insurance, fishing operations and navigation was by rented Decca Mk21 and 350T plotter accurate to within a distance that varied by time of day, season and weather! Many trawlers still had belt driven winches with all the inherent grief of repairing the argumentative belt when it broke - which it did, often. 

Most boats under 60ft lacked even basic toilet facilities, a bucket - not the easiest thing to perch on in any weather - sufficed, being on watch for hours without an auto pilot meant hand steering, which took a lot of concentration in a heavy following sea if you didn't ant to piss off those down below trying to sleep and all fresh produce was kept on ice down below in the fishroom - making getting fresh milk while steaming in poor weather something of a challenge. Despite all this, from punts to the largest beam trawlers, boats were fully crewed - Grimmy Mike's was the only inshore trawler to work singlehanded through choice - Stevenson's and other owners controlled the steady flow of fishermen from those ports in decline and incomers like Nelligan, as he was known - all were willing to crew to keep the growing fleet at sea. The romance of the sea and fishing still drew them in, in droves. 

Ben My Chree hauling when pair trawling with the Keriolet

These incomers didn't consider themselves special in themselves. Simply, those that stuck at it were just prepared to put up with a huge amount of discomfort and shit for something different, the something different that fishing is. Back then, wooden boats were notorious for their leaking decks - some bunks were referred to as being 'en suite' to a new recruit - ie you got a shower when the weather was bad as the deck were constantly awash on a long steam home in a gale. Call it a dream, a calling or whatever, whatever 'it' was it made for different outlook and a special time - the 'best of times' according to retired skipper Steve Hicks recently at the passing of yet another fellow fishermen called to the big wheelhouse in the sky.

Today, many things are different. Pay goes straight to a bank account, crews are insured, many are paid during periods of layup, there are paid net setters and pot riggers ashore to keep the boats in gear. Crew can get paid time off. The boats too are way better today: much newer, better designed, safer, drier, fitted with every modern comfort - probably more so than the homes of many crew - especially the many foreign hands.  

Satellite navigation pinpoints not only the position of the boat but also the position of every hitch, obstacle and wreck on the seabed to within a few metres. AIS tracks every ship around showing who they are, how big they are and exactly the direction that each is headed which means that in thick fog or reduced visibility you never have to call everyone out of their bunks in a panic because the radar which was your only mens of 'seeing' where other vessels were was always only ever relative to yourself. ILO regulations have seen to it that the welfare and safety of skipper and crews are now enshrined in legislation in a way that the Nelligans of this world would not recognise - not that he would have argued with the improvements!

A hand on Grace

It would be good to think that what hasn't changed today is that same sense of not-knowing adventure that drew John and thousands of others to become fishermen, even if only for a short period of their lives. Like many his affinity with the sea (almost as strong as his affinity for women - which was legendary as attested to by his wife Maddie's piece in the Cornishman) never left him and in 2003 he bought and restored the lugger Britannia which he re-named, Grace after his mother. For many years Grace graced Penzance wet dock and many Breton ports and festivals, optimally with largely female crews - a floating testament to his sense of fun and endearing Irish love of the 'craic'. 

Two memories of sailing with the never-dull Nelligan come to mind. In heavy weather when he was down the fishroom putting fish away the ever-rolling and unpredictable Keriolet (notorious for rolling even in the confines of the harbour) would test his patience to the extreme. 

Profanities would emanate out of the fishroom hatch and he could be heard to engage in a totally one-sided conversation with an apparent and unknown crew member - constantly hurling abuse at him amidst the crash of boxes as he slid or fell heavily on the icy fishroom floor - all we knew was this mystery crewman, who only ever appeared when Nelligan was down below, was called, Eejit! He was a smoker, but never at sea, only when in the pub socialising!

RIP John, who has now gone to join those others who once chose to go to sea to fish for a part of their lives.

Here's an extract and final few words from his wife Maddie.

"And there's the folk from The Blue Anchor in Helston, and of course numerous ex-girlfriends - too many to mention - a first wife, friends from the past in St Ives and from years fishing out of Newlyn and the flower business, and those he met whilst keeping horses. So many friends and lives gently touched by my darling John, my love and my best friend. Raise a glass to him when you get a chance, and we will throw a party to celebrate his life on April 28, 2023, in Galicia. Please get in touch with John's wife Maddie Nelligan if you want to come.

Post-Brexit fishing: 1,054 fishing licenses obtained, an exit plan for fishermen who remained at the quay.

This plan could concern more than a hundred vessels divided between Brittany, Normandy and Hauts-de-France, but fishermen have not finished worrying about the consequences of Brexit. 

SAMEER AL-DOUMY / AFP

On November 26, 2021, French fishing boats, including the "Welga", a 7m boat, deprived of its fishing license in Jersey waters since the beginning of November, blocked the entrance to the port of Saint-Malo. as fishermen planned to block ferry traffic to two other Channel ports and the movement of goods through the rail tunnel between France and the UK in protest at post-Brexit fishing rights. 

It is the epilogue of a diplomatic-commercial battle of more than a year between Paris and London, arbitrated by Brussels. France finally obtained 1,054 fishing licenses from the UK and the Channel Islands, allowing holders to continue fishing in their waters, as before Brexit. For the dozens of fishermen who have remained on the floor or whose activity has been drastically reduced, the government has planned an “individual support plan” , or a fleet exit plan for the boats that will be destroyed. "It is not with lightness of heart that we accept a fleet exit plan, but we have been waiting for this decree for months: finally, business leaders will be able to organize themselves, move forward" , said declared to Agence France-Presse Hubert Carré, director general of the National Committee for Maritime Fisheries and Marine Farming. 

Read the report: Post-Brexit fishing licenses: the island of Jersey is in the middle of a battle that goes beyond it" "No destabilization of a fishing port" 

The Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville, defended "a plan which does not lead to the destabilization of a fishing port or an auction and, therefore, which does not contribute to the weakening of our fishing capacity” in a statement. This plan could concern more than a hundred ships distributed between Brittany, Normandy and Hauts-de-France. The conflict escalated in 2021, with London going so far as to send two patrol boats off Jersey, while Paris threatened to cut power to the Channel Islands. 

According to the decree published in the Official Journal on Thursday, any vessel subject to a request for aid must have carried out fishing activities for at least 90 days a year during the last two years preceding the year of the date of submission of the request. The ship must have “entered the fleet before January 1 ,  2021” and meet at least one of the following conditions: justify a dependency of at least 20% of the total value of sales of its catches made during the reference year 2019 or 2020 in British waters, Jersey or Guernsey; not hold a fishing license giving access to the British 6-12 mile zone or the Channel Islands and justify a prior activity in this zone; have a dependency on one or more specific fish stocks, generating at least 20% of the turnover. November 18, deadline for submitting an application 

The overall envelope of the device is currently 60 million euros, financed by the European Commission. The amount of aid is calculated for each vessel according to its power, and the beneficiary is prohibited from fitting out a new vessel or increasing its fishing capacity "during the five years following payment of the aid" . This prohibition "is an additional constraint" , regretted Mr. Carré. For the national committee, the renewal of the ageing French fleet requires the fitting out of more modern, more comfortable and quieter ships, and therefore more powerful. The fishermen had proposed the principle of a stock exchange, to scrap the oldest boats and keep the most modern, but this was not accepted, in particular because the gauges and fishing capacities of the outgoing vessels and those of the beneficiary vessels would not have corresponded. Fishing masters have until November 18 to submit a request for assistance. Concerns for the future If their application is accepted, they undertake to take their vessel out of the fleet within ninety calendar days.

Full story in Le Monde here.

Njord Venture lands 270 boxes in Newlyn.

Tuesday evening saw the 26m Njord Venture arrive in Newlyn with 270 boxes aboard including a good number of cuttles. Originally named Thinganes, the boat was built in 1991 in Portugal for an Icelandic owner, she was then sold to Scottish owners in 2021. She is rigged as a stern trawler and has a 99bhp Deutz main engine.

The catch is due to be sold on Thursday's market.

Key Statistics Fleet

In 2021 there were 5,783 UK registered fishing vessels. This represents a 10 per cent reduction in the last ten years, however Gross Tonnage (GT) has remained the same at 202 thousand tonnes.

Approximately 20 per cent of the UK fleet is represented by vessels over 10 metres in length, of which 44 per cent are administered in Scotland. There are around 11 thousand fishers working on UK registered vessels. This is a reduction of 1,700 fishers in the last ten years. 

Key Statistics

Fleet

In 2021 there were 5,783 UK registered fishing vessels. This represents a 10 per cent reduction in the last ten years, however Gross Tonnage (GT) has remained the same at 202 thousand tonnes. Approximately 20 per cent of the UK fleet is represented by vessels over 10 metres in length, of which 44 per cent are administered in Scotland. There are around 11 thousand fishers working on UK registered vessels. This is a reduction of 1,700 fishers in the last ten years.

Landings

In 2021, UK vessels landed 652 thousand tonnes of sea fish with a value of £921 million. Compared to 2020, this is an increase of 5 per cent and 11 per cent in quantity and value respectively. This is mainly driven by the UK’s recovery from the covid period and additional quota available to the UK fleet after leaving the EU.

Landings into the UK by foreign vessels in 2021 was 20 thousand tonnes, which compared to 2020 represents a 48 per cent reduction, however landings abroad by UK vessels has increased by 5 per cent to 258 thousand tonnes.

Effort

Since 2003, fishing effort (kW days at sea) by the over 10m fleet has decreased by around 43 per cent. Most of the reduction in effort is driven by a 46 per cent decline in effort in the demersal trawl and seine segment. Fishing effort by the over 10m fleet increased by nearly 5 per cent between 2020 and 2021. This reverses a small decline following the levelling off in effort seen since 2011. Trade The UK is a net importer of fish. The UK’s crude trade gap in 2021 for sea fish is 305 thousand tonnes. This is higher than 2020 where the gap was 250 thousand tonnes. In 2021 the UK imported 655 thousand tonnes of sea fish, with a value of £3.1 billion. It exported 350 thousand tonnes, with a value of £1.6 billion.

Landings In 2021, UK vessels landed 652 thousand tonnes of sea fish with a value of £921 million. Compared to 2020, this is an increase of 5 per cent and 11 per cent in quantity and value respectively. This is mainly driven by the UK’s recovery from the covid period and additional quota available to the UK fleet after leaving the EU. Landings into the UK by foreign vessels in 2021 was 20 thousand tonnes, which compared to 2020 represents a 48 per cent reduction, however landings abroad by UK vessels has increased by 5 per cent to 258 thousand tonnes.

Effort

Since 2003, fishing effort (kW days at sea) by the over 10m fleet has decreased by around 43 per cent. Most of the reduction in effort is driven by a 46 per cent decline in effort in the demersal trawl and seine segment. Fishing effort by the over 10m fleet increased by nearly 5 per cent between 2020 and 2021. This reverses a small decline following the levelling off in effort seen since 2011.

Trade

The UK is a net importer of fish. The UK’s crude trade gap in 2021 for sea fish is 305 thousand tonnes. This is higher than 2020 where the gap was 250 thousand tonnes.

In 2021 the UK imported 655 thousand tonnes of sea fish, with a value of £3.1 billion. It exported 350 thousand tonnes, with a value of £1.6 billion.

UK Sea Fisheries Statistics 2021

Brexit: the end of Breton deep-sea fishing?

British fishermen want to take advantage of Brexit to reclaim the Exclusive Economic Zones of the seas surrounding their island. Breton fishermen are very worried about this! 

Currently, only 32% of catches in their EEZs for UK fishermen

50% of Breton fishing landings come from British waters. The imminent prospect of nationalisation of their EEZ by the British, strongly demanded by their fishermen, therefore legitimately worries all fishing professionals in Brittany and France. 

The British want to withdraw 75% of the fishing quotas which are allocated to fishermen from other countries. We can therefore imagine in the extreme a virtual disappearance of Breton deep sea fishing with repercussions on coastal fishing which would be increasingly in demand. British fishermen accuse other EU countries of monopolizing their resources since joining the Common Fisheries Policy. Indeed, out of an average of 1.6 million tonnes fished each year in UK waters, 68% by weight are caught by foreign vessels, for 54% by value. 

EU boats are not the only foreign boats, as there are also agreements allowing Norwegians and Faroese to fish in the UK. 21% of catches are made by the Norwegians, 4% by the Faroese, i.e., in total, approximately 400,000T; in exchange, the Europeans have fishing rights in Norwegian waters. British fishermen forget that the CFP and the creation of the EEZs, which they resisted, made it possible to drive the Soviets out of their waters. 

For their part, the British only catch 100,000 tonnes outside their waters. Access to British waters is therefore vital for the majority of European countries on the Atlantic seaboard. The share of British fishermen should probably be further reduced if we take into account the many boats flying the UK flag which are in fact Dutch or Spanish. Thus, the Dutch trawler Cornelis Vrolijk has 23% of British quotas for pelagic species. In total, British fishermen have only 18% of the quotas in the North Sea, 30% in the Channel.

The weight of history.

Obviously the British accuse the CFP of being responsible for their situation. This is partly true because, like all fishermen, they have been subjected to European constraints to reduce fleets and quotas as well as various political management measures. But the distribution of the quotas was made at the time of the entry of the United Kingdom into the European Union and is based on relative stability. This distribution was made at the worst time for the United Kingdom and especially England: when English industrial fishing collapsed, but Europe had nothing to do with it.

On a map of fishing ports in Great Britain, one can see that there are hardly any major fishing ports left outside of Scotland, Cornwall and the South West. The very powerful English fishery collapsed in the late 1970s and 1980s for two reasons. It consisted of two sectors dominated by industrial shipping: cod fishing in Iceland and herring fishing in the North Sea. The closure of Icelandic and then Norwegian waters led to the rapid disappearance of industrial cod fishing, while herring fishing did not survive the collapse of the resource due to overfishing. The disappearance of English fishing is also due to the industrial structure of shipping lines, unable to finance a restructuring on nearby alternative resources, with smaller boats. In Scotland, at the same time, the artisanal structure of the armaments allowed a development of fishing towards new resources in the North Sea, rather neglected before (langoustines, haddock, etc.). 

It is true that Europe has aggravated the situation with its liberal policy favouring the capture of quotas by the passage of foreign vessels under the British flag. Fishermen tried to impose restrictions but they were not enough to curb the phenomenon. British fishermen have also suffered like others from policies aimed at restoring stocks, but they must now recognise that stocks are generally at a good level or in the process of being restored. The British fleet has also become very profitable, which makes it possible to renew the boats.

The situation of British fishing is therefore first and foremost the product of history before its integration into the European Union. Whether it is the English Channel or the North Sea, before the creation of the EEZ and the common fishing zone, European fishermen circulated from one coast to the other and had done so for centuries; there were tensions but they also looked for ways to limit them, like between Jersey, Normandy and Brittany. There is also a cohabitation agreement in the English Channel between the trailing arts and the dormant arts. The London Convention between European countries signed in 1964 recognised the rights of adjacent countries.

The illusions of British fishermen. 

British fishermen are no doubt under the illusion that Brexit will allow them to find control over their waters, which they never had. The European Union is firmly committed to preserving fishing rights in British waters. She has an argument for this. The English fish market is weak and has even declined along with fishing itself; the markets are therefore in Europe and particularly in France. Moreover, it is impossible to imagine stock management independent of that of the European Union. Undoubtedly there will be moves to drive out boats, but in the long term, British fishermen do not weigh heavily against other interests. Environmental ENGOs are strong in the UK as well as energy business interests (wind and oil). 

Marine space in the UK is increasingly occupied by wind farms. 

Finally, the strength of British liberalism is such that forces are already pushing for the generalisation of ITQs (Individual Transferable Quotas) to eliminate more fishermen. If this is put in place, we will see the sale of quotas to foreign boats.

The state of stocks has greatly improved.

Britain's fishermen are not in sufficient numbers to exploit all of their resources, although Brexit may spur some revival where strength exists. The bosses must already make massive use of immigrant sailors. 

In Scotland the sailors are more and more often from Asian countries.

Finally what will happen with Scotland? The Scots make up half of British fishing for 50% of the 11,000 anglers. Fishing there is very dynamic and fishermen want Brexit, but there is already talk of a new referendum on Scottish independence, strongly supported by the European Union. What will then weigh the last English fishermen in a country where a minister of fisheries also declared himself as the minister of amateur fishermen, more numerous and more influential politically and economically? 

Territories against Markets.

In 1999, Christian Lequenne wrote in a Sciences Po review: “Contrary to popular belief, the 270,000 or so fishermen in the European Union do not go to sea with a strictly individualistic representation of their professional activity. On the contrary, they exercise their profession with the feeling of belonging to professional communities anchored in territories, a State, a port, a maritime region” [ 1 ]. 

This logic of territory is widely challenged by European policy which tends to favor the market by promoting the capture of quotas by foreign vessels changing flag, in the name of the free movement of capital. Brexit is also a reaction against this practice and should be an opportunity to move towards a new logic of management, that of maritime territories where fisheries resources are a democratically managed common good. There are already elements of such practices between fishermen who are often opposed but also know how to find compromises to adapt to realities and allow for changes. The model is that of the management of Granville Bay, managed by fishermen from Jersey, Brittany and Normandy. 

There is no doubt that moving to the management of larger areas such as the Celtic Sea, the English Channel or the North Sea requires long negotiations and considerable resources. Milestones have already been set, but under the control of ENGOs; the WWF has piloted a management plan project for the Celtic Sea, while the Environmental Defence Fund has interfered in discussions on the management of scallops in Normandy and the English Channel. 

While ENGOs can play their role of protecting biodiversity and the environment, it is not their mandate to take over fisheries management with the financial support of the European Union. The role of the latter should rather be to promote relations and discussions between fishermen by strengthening the role of the Advisory Committees to give them the mission of managing the maritime territories with the responsibility of good management. 

The NFFO, the organisation of English fishermen, has expressed the concern to modify management approaches by developing territorial management approaches by rotation of fishing and fallow areas. There are therefore bases for getting out of a politicised and biased debate on a return of the British to control of their waters which has never existed. There are political positions in this debate in Great Britain that have nothing to do with history or reality. We must refocus the debate on the role of fishermen in collective management because, very quickly, Brexit will give way in the United Kingdom as in the European Union to a discourse on blue growth. The future of fishermen is the least of the worries of the majority of politicians because their interest in the sea mainly concerns other much more promising activities.

Full story courtesy of Peche & Developpment.

Alan Steer on how to get your point across in meetings

 

Here's a great example from Alan Steer on how to deal with what people are more terrified of than flying - public speaking!

As he says, "When you are talking about something you are passionate about, it becomes a lot easier. Just take your time and let people soak up what you are saying” – his short video is full of tips on how to get your point across - they will listen!

This is another really useful piece to be found on the Fishing Porthole - the industry's one-stop-shop for information and insight.

Consultation on proposals to amend the economic link licence condition

 

This is a big read for the industry - not just in Scotland!

The Scottish government has published details of changes to economic link landing conditions for Scottish over-10m vessel fisheries, which will take effect from 1 January 2023 and include raising the tonnage which vessels must land to qualify.