Newlyn is awash with #FishyFriday fish!

Despite the weather, Cornish sardines have continue to be landed every night this week...

methinks the catching days are over for these two pots...

it's a little early in the year for John Dory...

those are fine meaty ray wings...

a trio of brill from Lady Lynne...

pouts and scallops...

one big conger...

there were plenty of hake from the three netters to land, the Stelissa was one boat...

the local name for smoothounds...

Britannia V was another netter to land hake...

and some cracking haddock...

at the moemnt the boats can land their bass by-catch

the tub gurnard in ice...

there were precious few monk tails up for auction this morning...

but there were sevral mighty bass...

and a brace of Dovers...

and a few black bream...

Tom lands his smoothounds too...

the netters pick up a few spiders while working well south of Newlyn...

big plaice from the inshore trawler...

and plenty more wings...

'silver darlings' do get landed sometimes...

along with the much more common mackerel...

early signs of the spawning season from the Annie May...

roe taken from the pollack they caught...

name that fish that owns this tail...

times they are a-changing....

all will be good when the small fish and mackerel grader arrives and is up and running...

the lucrative cuttle...

landed by the ton...

at the end of every netting trip any damaged tiers of nets are taken off for repair...

these days all the larger boats box their fish at sea...

a busy end to the week as the sun comes up...

there's plenty to keep the netters busy...

heading back to Mallaig, RNLI lifeboat 17-33 waiting to take fuel...

the recent storms have revealed even more of the old causeway that linked Wherry Town  and Newlyn...

as work begins to install the next batch...

of concrete blocks...

on the beach in front of Newlyn Green.

 

MMO have launched formal consultation on a proposed byelaw prohibiting bottom towed fishing over rock and reef in 13 offshore MPAs

The MMO have launched formal consultation on a proposed byelaw prohibiting bottom towed fishing over rock and reef in 13 offshore MPAs. 

This is part of Stage 2 of our work to manage fishing in England’s offshore MPAs by the end of 2024, and follows a technical assessment of the impact of bottom towed gear fishing on rock and reef MPA features. In parallel to the Stage 2 formal consultation, they are running a ‘call for evidence’ to seek input on the evidence base they will use for Stage 3. Stage 3 will involve the assessment and management of fishing in all remaining offshore MPAs with seabed features. This is a total of 41 MPAs (28 ‘new’ sites, plus remaining fishing/features in the 13 Stage 2 sites).  Both the consultation and call for evidence will run for ten weeks and will close at midnight on 28th March.

 

If they decide to proceed with the Stage 2 byelaw, the next steps will be for MMO to make the byelaw and submit it to the Secretary of State for confirmation, which is required before it can come into force. The next steps for Stage 3 will be to carry out site-level assessments for each MPA, and where management is necessary, draft and consult on byelaws. Stage 4 will involve the assessment and management of fishing in the 5 English offshore MPAs designated for birds and harbour porpoise. They plan to launch a Call for evidence for Stage 4 in the summer.

 

The Stage 2 formal consultation, proposed management and supporting information can be found at https://consult.defra.gov.uk/mmo/stage-2-formal-consultation

The call for evidence and supporting information can be found at https://consult.defra.gov.uk/mmo/stage-3-call-for-evidence

Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs)

Please register for the Fisheries Management and Innovation Group (FMIG) online, bite-size meeting on Tuesday 17 January 2023. 

The session will run from 2pm to 4pm GMT. The registration link is below.

 

Following Brexit, the UK Fisheries Act 2020 placed FMPs as the main tool for FMPs are evidence-based action plans, developed with input from industry and other stakeholders. They set out a range of policies, based on scientific evidence, that detail how fishing is managed, by stock, fishery, or location.

 

This meeting will take a close look at the FMPs being prioritised for delivery in 2023 in England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have a different approach). These ‘frontrunner’ FMPs, all involve a partnership between fishers, researchers and regulators, but they are piloting different ways of preparing FMPs. The lessons learnt from these projects will help shape future FMP work. Through a series of presentations, and follow-on discussion, we will find out more about how the alternative approaches are working. Our speakers are:

• Government policy - FMPs/Joint Fisheries Statement/UK Fisheries Act 2020. Annabel Stockwin and Jon Davies, Defra. 

• Crabs, lobsters and whelks in English waters. Rebecca Treacy, Seafish.

• Bass in English waters. Policy Lab. Speaker TBC.

• Channel non-quota demersal stocks (NQS). Isobel Johnston, Marine Management Organisation. 

• King scallop in English and Welsh waters. Speaker TBC.

 

If you have any questions please email Karen Green. Please note your event registration confirmation will come from Eventbrite (please check your spam or junk folders) with the zoom login details for the day.

Monday morning's haul of fish on the market.

Dark as a cow's guts.

It's heavy skies over Newlyn this morning...

out to sea in Mounts Bay and it's 'knissing down...

inside the relative comfort of the fish market there were plenty of bass up for auction...

and a good haul of big black bream...

the only boat of any size to have fish for sale was the netter Stelissa,  amongst her catch were these fine haddock...

and a soli trip of big hake...

these big tub gurnards also found their way into the big mesh net...

with changes afoot to working practices on the market...

fish are now being tipped from the boxes they were auctioned in...

on the back of less than ideal weather, the sardine boat Pelagic Marksman managed a shot of these lovely fish during the night...

while several of the Waterdance fleet have their boxes now in cold storage after landing waiting to be taken for auction on Brixham market, it's a long story...

sistership to the Stelissa, Siver Dawn  has just finished landing and is now taken boxes back on board...

green for go...

red for stop, access barriers in action on the Mary Williams pier...

as the Crustal Sea heads away for another trip...

out across the bay...

there's just enough darkness for the half-moon to show above Newlyn...

as the promenade recovers from yet another soaking.