Monday morning market in Newlyn.

 

Newlyn has the largest mix of fishing methods of any port in the UK, many of them small-scale fishermen, for them and all the other inshore fishermen, today we doff our fishing caps in respect of them continuing to supply our tables with the very best fish...

but, with the weather providing truly seasonal 40 knot-plus winds gave all the netting fleet still fishing to the end of this neap tide an uncomfortable run home...

to land their catches ...

at an already packed fish market this morning, with a big trip of beam trawl fish from the Enterprise the crabbers will be kept in fresh bait for a day or two...

while several of the inshore trawlers stuck out some heavy ground seas over the weekend to fill up with ray...

the  Enterprise also picked up a good landing of cuttles...

and her own shot of undulate ray...

and like many it seems a few bass...

as did Tom on the Guardian...

more ray wings from the Millenia...

and another sure sign that the planet is changing, Mediterranean octopus now being caught in numbers by the crabbers working offshore...

more big bass, this time line caught...

and more...

and, if it wasn't bass or mackerel, those handline boats rigged for it, got their teeth stuck into jigged squid

and no doubt the odd red mullet came via some inshore nets...

good to see Cap'n Cod getting a good result from his squid lures...

the re's black bream...

and a single Couch's bream from the Spirited Lady III...

and a good shot of pollack from the netter, Annie May...

those congers just can't help getting caught...

along with a few JDs...

a handful of those very tasty weavers, if you haven't, try one!..

the last time I saw one of these was while netting on the Labadie Bank aboard the Keriolet...

and according to many authorites, the Sevengill or bluntnose shark is seldom if ever seen in the North Atlantic...

also unusual, but not so rare, the Greater Forkbeard...

scad are a by-catch, normally targeted in quantity by big pelagic boats...

the amount of hake landed this morning from the Ygraine  and the Stelissa dwarfed the staff...

with some 6 kilo plus fish put ashore...

bull huss...

and yet more ray...

were all landed by the inshore trawl fleet tat all had a good weekend's fishing despite the heavy ground sea...

it would be good to see the Waterdance fleet put their fish on Newlyn's auction instead of increasing the carbon footprint of the fish all being transported to Brixham for auction and then for much of it making its way back to Cornwall for processing!...

and with the forecast giving 8s and 9s...

the biggest boats in the fleet were lucky that their landing day coincided with the strong winds and heavy seas..

including this second time visitor, the Icelandic owned UK flagged and Inverness registered Njord Venture...

which certainly fishes some areas that are not traditionally looked at by local trawlers except for the cuttles south east of Start Point...

more crab coming ashore from the biggest and newest addition to the Waterdance crabber fleet, Winter of Ladram...

a poor enough morning for the Gry Maritha dodging off the Mount...

the immaculate Winter...

two very different sterns...

looks like it's all hands on deck to get the 'Fish' ready for opening...

the Rowse crabbing feet in port...

as the netters queue to land.

Aboard Prins Bernhard - Day 4 - Above the waves.

At the crack of dawn. 

Thomas, the director, had a dream. 

That of flying above the Prins Bernhard. 

  

France Pélagique welcomes on board its ships a documentary filmmaker to make you live live, for several weeks, a herring fishing campaign in the English Channel aboard the freeze trawler, Prins Bernhard.. 

The objective of this unprecedented approach? 

It is clearly educational: to show the reality of life on board, fishing trades and techniques, as well as the regulatory framework. 

Get on board: every morning, a postcard to discover here, and on the dedicated page of our website (https://lnkd.in/e8cBt_pS) delivered by filmmaker Thomas Troadec

Prins Bernhard Day 3 - Patience and then the first strike!

Day 3 - Waiting 

Fishing is the art of patience 

Often tinged with a dose of impatience 

For this first day in the Channel 

Herring is scattered 

At the walkway and refectory 

We wait..........

Le premier trait from France Pélagique on Vimeo.

 "You shouldn't miss that one...!" 

For a first haul, this one is beautiful. 

That's it: a school of herring has been detected. No sooner had the bridge officer given the order to put the trawl in the water than the guys on deck were already on the job. 

Spinning, turning. 

Concentration, coordination. 

The voice of the bridge officer in the helmet, the signs of the bo's'n in the viewfinder. There's nothing like a smooth first shot to launch the trip.

Follow the dull story on France Pelaqique or see more of work from Thomas Troadec

Day 2: Prins Bernhard arrives on the fishing grounds.

 

"In this business, you have to have patience... "

After 9 hours at sea, the Prins Bernhard arrived on the fishing ground. On the bridge, Christophe, the Captain, studies the data transmitted by the echo sounders and sonars. For the time being, they has not initiated any fishing action. 

The crew? He waits. Everyone is ready to return to their posts as soon as the first "To shoot!" sounds: Those on deck, those in the factory, those in the fishroom. Patience.

Listen to the crew of the Prins Bernhard on our LinkedIn page and on the dedicated page of our website (https://lnkd.in/e8cBt_pS).

A bright #FishyFriday Newlyn full of fine fish this morning!

Bonjour Bon Accord...

and a bonny day it is too in Englands foremost port for fishy species...

and lo!, first up is this week's #FishyFriday fish of the week, the mighty bass...

followed by some beam trawl caught Dover sole...

and some cracking pot-caught Mediterranean octopus...

some cracking monk tails...

quality red and grey gurnard...

a solitary tail-chasing conger...

name this fish...

head-on hake from the freshly re-fitted Ocean Pride...

more magnificent line caught mackerel...

a few mini megrims...

and plenty of pollack...

plenty of jigged squid on the market tis morning, mainly from the St Ives boats...

and some cracking netted tub gurnards...

and this lonely ling, once landed in huge quantities by the now defunct longline fleet that filled the harbour back in the 1950s-1970s...

the cod end or 'money bag' is where all the fish in a trawl end up before being hauled on deck...

while the other end of the trawl, the 'wings' begin the process of herding the fish before they pass over...

the footrope, a wire or chain threaded through rubber (recycled from old tyres) discs joined with the false fishing line which in turn is set on the actual fishing line protected by polypropylene rope wound round it to help protect it from chaffing to which the trawl mesh itself is attached...

looks like Stevenson's workhorse tugboat is almost set to return to her duties.