The UK Gear Forum brings together industry, researchers and governments to discuss and advance gear innovations to drive sustainability in fishing.
The UK Gear Forum focuses on selective gear innovations to support sustainable fishing
UK Gear Forum focus and role
Selective gear innovations have a vital role to play in advancing sustainability in wild capture fisheries. They are also central to the delivery of key fisheries objectives under the Fisheries Act 2020. Following an inaugural meeting in the summer, gear technology expert Mike Montgomery has been appointed as Chair of the Forum.
Members have also now agreed working principles to take forward into 2023 and beyond. This sets out the priority work themes for the group:
Advancing the research evidence-base to inform the development of new policy and technical measures.
An operating framework in which fishers are able to demonstrate and deploy more selective fishing gear designs.
Tangible outputs which provide practical solutions to address priority industry challenges and needs.
Timely dissemination of work outputs – and sign-posting to other good practice, including case studies – and in appropriate formats for the intended audiences.
Further development and delivery of fit-for-purpose training resources for fishers and non-fishers.
These themes will inform a work programme to be taken forward by ‘task and finish’ working groups focused on delivering practical solutions and outcomes.
We convened the initial Forum meetings. We will continue to provide the secretariat and will support the Forum in delivery of its agreed workplan going forward.
Mike Montgomery - The UK Gear Forum is chaired by Mike Montgomery
Dr Stuart McLanaghan, our Head of Responsible Sourcing said:
Advances in selective gear innovations are an important part of responsible fisheries management and central to the delivery of key fisheries objectives under the Fisheries Act 2020. We’ve convened the UK Gear Forum to provide a pan-UK platform for industry, the research community and government to discuss and progress activities with the goal of advancing sustainability in all wild capture static and mobile fisheries.
I’m thrilled that Mike Montgomery has come on board as Chair, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience in gear technology, trials and innovations. It’s also great that members have now agreed the working principles for the Forum.
Mike Montgomery, Chair of the UK Gear Forum added:
I’m pleased to take on the role of Chair for the UK Gear Forum and to be able to work with a Forum that aims to improve gear selectivity and vessel efficiency in the UK. I hope that my many years of experience with the UK fishing industry can be put to good use in helping the UK Gear forum be beneficial to the industry and industry managers.
Ben Collier, Fisheries Conservation Technologist from Northern Ireland Gear Trials is another UK Gear Forum member. He added:
Fishing gear technology has often been associated with developing new approaches to avoid unwanted catch. The sustainability and climate change objectives of the Fisheries Act, alongside net zero commitments, blue carbon habitats and the circular economy are widening the focus of this work. The UK Gear Forum brings together members with a range of skills and expertise along with a shared interest in helping the fishing industry to identify solutions to these challenges.
One of Newlyn's long time skipper owners, Bill Tate, died shortly before Christmas aged 85.
Bill had been stationed at RNAS Culdrose but, like a handful of other exNavy guys, saw an opportunity in the fishing industry when he retired from her Majesty's Senior Service. An early investment in a clinker-built boat from Newhaven and named Joan after his wife saw both him and Joan fish together and join the then growing, mackerel fishery in the early 70s. His next boat, the Mes Filles saw him mackereling in the winter then joining the boom that was crawfish netting using nylon tangle nets. It was at that time that I made two 'pleasuring' trips on the Mes Filles along with David 'Dumps' Hichens, Anthony Hobin and Frank Busby, the first time was handlining for mackerel
the day after the Conqueror ran aground off Mousehole, the second was a day on the craws tanglenetting - I spent most of both days curled in a heap on the floor of the wheelhouse thinking, "Jeez, you can't even get off!"
Eventually, Bill invested in a much larger boat, the 56' Silver Fern built at Fairlie for Andy McCrindle in 1950. Bill fished successfully with the boat first longlining then, like many others changing over to multi-mono then monofilament nylon fishing primarily on wrecks and for hake until the 1990s when St Ives man, Billy Bunn took over as skipper for Bill who went shore skipper and eventual retirement.
In the days when the Mission was the hub of Newlyn fishing life I remember a tablefull of us being entertained early one morning by one of Bill Tate's many stories - told with a wry smile but without exaggeration. As he told it, he, and dozens of other small Newlyn men had left Falmouth at the end of the mackerel season all stretched out from Carrick Roads, around the Manacles and headed for the Lizard. The weather was a bit scuffly and visibility poor. The mackerel boats mainly used VHF Channel 8 while they were at sea to communicate with one another, but the boats also always monitored Channel 16, the emergency channel. Bill heard one of the Porthleven men on a small 30ft tosher, Leven Mor, calling on Channel 16 giving his position and enquiring after another vessel some 5 or six miles south of the Lizard that appeared to have been stationary for some time giving the Porthleven man cause for concern. The ship in question had identified itself by name including the letters ULCC and thanked the skipper for his concern and offer of assistance saying that he was drifting very slowly with temporary engine problem. The Leven Mor skipper immediately offered the boat a tow (obviously mindful, as ever, of the opportunity that such a situation might present for a Lloyds Open Book salvage opportunity). Intrigued, Bill upped the range on his radar only to see a blip on his radar in his words, the size of a f*****g matchbox! So here we had a 35ft, 25 ton wooden fishing boat offering a tow to an Ultra Large Crude Carrier of some 550,000 tonnes! Bill was never sure if the ULCC skipper was aware that the offer of assistance in the first place was genuine or not!
There will be a celebration of Bill's Life at Treswithian Downs Crematorium, Camborne on Friday 6th January 2023 at 10am. Donations in aid of The Fisherman's Mission and The Stroke Association may be made via www.pendlefunerals.org.uk
All enquiries to Pendle Funeral Services, Helston.
Just a few more days left to enjoy both Newlyn and Mousehole Harbour lights...
with a cheery thought that every morning sees the sun coming up just that little bit earlier every day...
fine weather over the weekend saw a few of the inshore boats, like the Guardian, get to sea to provide the market with the first supplies of fresh fish...
like ray wings...
with a few boxes or even just kilos of each species like these big place...
and red mullet for many fish, prices were high...
the handliners had several days of good fishing for mackerel...
and inshore cod...
while the inshore trawlers saw to it that the crab fleet have some fresh bait to start their new year with...
and there were plenty of these guys to show for their efforts too...
young Gary on the Bethshan having a better day than many...
but he wasn't the only one to pick up good landings of bass...
others concentrated on the mackerel...
or even a few silver darlings...
with some of the mackerel being a half decent run...
Brown crab stocks are relatively healthy in Cornish waters and the majority of brown crab landed to our ports are caught with crab pots, a selective and low impact fishing method. Always look for fresh local pot caught crab. Best choice for brown crabs are those caught using pots in inshore waters (within Cornwall’s 6 mile limit) where minimum landing sizes are higher.
Brown crabs have a relatively low vulnerability to fishing as a female crab can produce up to 3 million eggs each year, they grow relatively fast and use our shallow rocky intertidal areas (of which Cornwall has a huge area) as protected nursery grounds.
The main fishing method used for brown crab is potting. This is a selective fishing method, with very little impact on the seabed. Undersized and berried crabs can be returned safely to the sea unharmed, so there is no problem with killing undersized crabs (discards).
As a result pot caught brown crab is one of the most sustainable choices of seafood you can make, even in winter months.
The industry has set up a Fishery Improvement Plan for south west crab and lobster potting which aims to further improve the sustainability of these fisheries.
In 2019 a total of 2439 tonnes of brown crab were landed to Cornish ports with a value of £7.32 million (MMO data).
Or to be precise
- brown crab, because there are several other species of crab landed in Newlyn...
each one conforming to the minimum landing size across the top of the shell - 150mm for male and 160mm for female crabs...
the bulk of crab landed in Newlyn is transported abroad, mainly to Spain and Portugal by road...
in 'vivier' lorries...
fitted with tanks containing aerated seawater...
sometimes the netting fleet land just crab claws...
the pots used to catch crab are baited with fish like dogfish or very small gurnard...
the largest boats in Newlyn are owned by the Rowse family and there fleet of mainly steel-hulled boats...
but there are a number of inshore boats who use a mix if fishing gear including pots like the Nazarene in this video.
There are dozens of crab recipes - apart from the simplest - the crab sandwich which you can enjoy locally at the Red Lion Inn...
Make your own authentic Thai chilli sauce to go with this hugely tasty crab dish, or cheat and use Nam Ploy if you must......
some of the ingredients are easy to find in an asian shop (like Steve Chan's in Penzance).......
but start with freshly boiled whole crab, this one courtesy of Harvey's in Newlyn.......
to remove the 'body' section push the thumb into the mouth (this takes a bit of effort on a big crab!)......
remove the body.......
and pick out the full of flavour brown meat from inside the crab's shell - save for another day - add to a fish soup or stew........
take off the dead man's fingers - they are not poisonous as such, but being the crab's gills that filter the water they live in - when crabs were taken from close inshore they could potentially become contaminated - but these crabs have come from many miles offshore - apart from anything else they have the the texture of foam rubber so why would you want to eat them?........
crack the main leg sections with the back of a chopper or heavy knife - with practice you'll get the claws to crack across like this every time.......
stir fry the chopped chilli, garlic and onion for the sauce.......
three different sugars used in Asian and Indian cooking - top right, dark brown lump sugar, bottom left yellow lump sugar, top left palm sugar and crushed bottom right......
final cook through for the chilli sauce......
before the stick blender does the business......
time to fry off the crab pieces for a few minutes to heat right through......
add the crab back to the cooked sauce.......
stir fry your preferred mix of veg to accompany the crab and chilli sauce.
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