1˚ above freezing on this magical Monday morning in Newlyn.

With temperatures hovering around freezing overnight there was a certain crispness to the air this Monday morning...

as signs of the festive season begin to sprout...

all around the harbour...

not so sure about the latest concrete baubles being deposited on the beach...

where the Coombe river makes its way down to the sea...

all three market chill rooms...

including the grader section were chock-a-block with fish...

with MSC Certified hake from the Silver Dawn...

and the Stelissa...

mor-ki, morgy, morgi all pronounced 'murgy' by Newlyn fishermen - an old saying ran, "If you want a have a son, eat a dogfish in May!", on the right the larger cousin, bull huss...

even the gill netters are picking up craws these days...

medium size ling...

brown and spider claws...

the delicious red mullet...

a brace of big 'but...

the handliner's fridge will see that many fine dining establishments get more than their fair shore of quality line caught fish today with bass and mackerel...

squid...

more squid...

and a 118kg...

blue (yes, blue) fin tuna...

Tom on the Guardian very kindly provided examples of three different bream featured recently in the Newlyn Fish of the Week post, but where was the Couch's bream?!.

and a couple of bass to boot...

the Cornishman managed a few tubs of cuttles...

and this cracking eight-legger...

also landing hake was the netter Ajax...

and a specimen tub gurnard...

undulate ray don't come much bigger than this pair landed by the Cornishman...

while pollack was a feature of all the net boat landings...

another fine brill...

a solitary heron checked out the fishing in the harbour...

as the crew of the Enterprise went through their starboard side trawl...

another good haul of seabed litter came ashore...

almost all the Rowse fleet were in port tis morning...

the latest big crabber to join the Waterdance fleet, Winter of Ladram...

the Twilight is one of the largest boats able to make use of the slip...

seen here bow on...

her name and number picked out in the morning sun...

as the last of the antifouling goes on...

one of our buoys is missing...

luckily there is a tracking beacon fitted so the authorities were able to say exactly (almost) where it could be picked up...

as the sun rise...

there is ample opportunity to reflect on what the day might bring...

Newlyn's totally unique fishy Christmas tree...

adorns the space taken by the now filled-in Keel Alley alongside the old ice-works - which will one day soon be home to the Newlyn Heritage Centre.

Prins Bernhard - Day 12 - early morning magic.

 

"Between two trawl strokes, the Scombrus stops. This morning, at daybreak, the lights are particularly beautiful. We take the opportunity to film it - the Scombrus seems to float on the sea" Filmed from the Prins Bernhard.

France Pélagique welcomes on board its ships a documentary filmmaker, Thomas Troadec (Agence CATALPA ) to make you live live, for several weeks, a herring fishing campaign in the Channel aboard the 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

Embark : every morning, a postcard to discover here, and on the dedicated page of our website (https://lnkd.in/e8cBt_pS).

Prins Bernhard - Day 11 - using technonlogy to fish cleanly.

 

Sonars, sounders, pingers, sensors in trawls: how do these devices make fishing for pelagic species more selective, from the detection phase to that of the trawl turn?

"These devices allow the skipper to better predict what type of fish is under the boat, and to estimate the size of the shoals, which allows officers to target their fishing action. They also give an accurate indication of the amount of fish entering the trawl, allowing officers to know when they need to start hauling the trawl. 

Listen to Niels Hintzen, Director of Research at Wageningen University, stock valuation expert and member of the ICES Advisory Board, on the LinkedIn page of France Pélagique and on the dedicated page of our website (https://lnkd.in/e8cBt_pS).

Fabulous #FishyFriday in Newlyn.

When it comes to the light in Newlyn, while late winter evenings have their appeal...

it is the morning light that is so special...

and makes for such a great backdrop to all those hard at work as day breaks......

Friday's market was full of fish, much of it line or net caught like these coley...

and pollack from Britannia V...

cuttles came from both inshore and beam trawls...

while squid seem to have at last put in an appearance in numbers being caught by both trawl

and handliners working jigs...

a turbot this big needs a big oven, or careful filleting...

there were plenty of hake boxes of all grades to choose from, these from the netter Stelissa...

and these monster MSC Certified hake from the Ygraine...

the beam trawler Billy Rowney brought us brill, fish of the day last week in our journey from A-Z in the alphabet of fish landed here in Newlyn - and yes, there is a fish beginning with Z, often plaguing the cod ends of trawlers fishing handy to the Scillys...

Tom on the Guardian picked up a cracking red mullet...

and a few handy bass...

top eating fish haddock are seldom off the auctioneer's list in the morning...

pristine megrims form the Ygraine...

and of course there is hardly a market without monk tails, the mainstay of the beam trawl fleet when megs are scarce...

while the very best in pollack always feature when the netting fleet land...

though Brackan on the Spirited Lady III is a dab hand at catching them...

there's bass by the boxful...

and bream of course...

name this fish, landed by the Pelagic Marksman...

more pristine pollack from the Annie May...

as a few early contrails streak across the dawn sky...

which in turn lights up the Fishermen's Arms, which is due to open today after a catastrophic fire wiped out the pub before the Covid lockdowns!...

not wanting to miss yet another glorious start to the day, local artist Clare Bowen works as quickly as she can in her impressionistic style, having set up in the dark in order to capture the harbour at its best.