With temperature just above freezing there;'s a distinctly misty look to Monday morning in Newlyn...
but that doesn't in any way interfere with the the size and variety of landings on the market, plenty of MSC Ceertified hake from two bog netters, thre Ajax...
and the Stelissa...
also in their landings were a smattering of smoothhounds...
and even some scad...
while the inshore fleet filled the rest of the market with the usual large variety of species associated with the port of Newlyn...
monk tails...
turbot...
big white fish roe...
and of course plenty of quality flats like Dovers, lemons and plaice from the likes of the trawler, Guardian...
along. with every size and type of ray...
more monk...
and a few of these big ling with their distinctive 'goatee' or chin barbel...
the high market price that Dover soles attract means that every inshore trawlerman has a smile on their face when these drop out of the cod end in any quantity...
as do John Dory...
red mullet...
and monk tails...
so more Dovers means more smiles...
likewise, handliners forget the dark, early morning starts and the long hours spent trying to locate fish when these guys start coming aboard...
especially if mackerel are proving elusive....
these dyas the big crabbers are finding more and more Mediterranean octopus in their pots - though they are quite capable of devouring any lobsters that just happen to have found their way through the pot mouth - and in a short space of time too...
nevr without a smile on his face, Mr Smart, the face of auction organisation...
guess the fish...
there were plenty of pollack with the boats that target them...
a fine firm flesh that works well in fish pies or big fillets with simple white-based sauces, saffron being a favourite flavour (and colour) to add...
breakfast-seeking sea gull on take-off...
the lucky ones who find fish head to the market to land, the rest make their way back to a ppontoon berth...
the life of a netter, seemingly, never-ending nets...
tomorrow, is all about how not only young but female fisherman are bolstering the Norwegian fishing industry - in stark contrast to the UK and other nation states.
In Lorient, the post-Brexit scrapping plan would release four Scapêche boats
What are the consequences for the fishing port of Lorient of the fleet exit plan, which threatens to scrap seven Scapêche boats? Yves Foëzon, director of the producers' organization Pêcheurs de Bretagne, answers.
Where are we today with the Individual Support Plan (PAI), the fleet exit plan opened by the State, which is to send 45 Breton fishing boats to the scrapyard, including four from Lorient?
The Jean-Claude Coulon, a 45-meter trawler built in 2005, risks ending up scrapped, as part of the Individual Support Plan (PAI), opened by the State, as part of Brexit. (The Telegram/Sophie Paitier)
The state has put €65m on the table for this Brexit-related fleet exit plan . Brexit has caused tensions over certain quotas or problems of access to areas of the Celtic Sea. The shipping lines that have applied to bring out their boats have received their agreements from the State. They must now say whether or not they confirm their positions to destroy their ships or not. There will be a second round.
Post-Brexit fishing: half of the boats destroyed in the fleet exit plan are Breton
We know that the Scapêche armament is concerned. Are we talking about four Lorient boats, including a 45 meter, the Jean-Claude Coulon and several others based in the Bigouden country and in northern Finistère?
Some Scapêche boats are in the first round. But we don't know if Scapêche has confirmed all of its ships or not. La Scapêche candidate for seven in total. Presumably, there will be four trawlers for the port of Lorient and seven ships in all. The administration does not yet communicate the official list of vessels retained. We are waiting for this list. It is possible that the shipowners who had applied in the first round do not confirm and free up space. The list will be supplemented by the following vessels, those with a sufficient Brexit dependency rate to enter the €65 million envelope released by the State.
What impact will this have for the port of Lorient?
In the current context of diesel and energy crises, given the fragile balances, any drop in supply is detrimental.
Does this represent significant fewer contributions for the Lorient fish auction?
This represents in value between 10 and 11 M € and 3,500 tonnes of fish landed. It calls into question the overall balance, for production, for the first buyers, for suppliers, for service providers, for the port. The whole industry will be impacted. There will be a bottom of the wave in the coming months. This summer there will be an actual destruction of ships. The boats will gradually stop but we will be able to measure the impact, as names are given and from this summer when the boats are actually destroyed.
What is the impact for Scapêche?
For regulatory and legal reasons, Scapêche is one of the shipping companies that does not receive diesel aid. They are capped at €330,000 for all of their vessels. It's nothing. However, diesel has a direct impact on the remuneration of crews. The Scapêche armament and others in the Bigouden country find themselves in a very delicate situation. Compared to other armaments, they have a distortion of competition. To be able to maintain the recruitment of sailors, they are obliged to compensate for the absence of helpers. There is a fairness issue.
And for the producer organization Pêcheurs de Bretagne?
We manage 650 ships in Brittany and Loire-Atlantique. Potentially, we have 45 ships that can go out with the PAI. These are boats that have significant contributions. In high hypothesis, we estimate that we would lose 15% of the turnover made by our members. Even if no one can assess the economic impact to date. The context is not favourable. We will have to maintain economic profitability for the remaining ships. If the context does not improve, it will be complicated. But the collective and pooled management of a producers' organization makes it possible to cushion this type of shock. It is she who will give prospects to the ships that will remain.
Post-Brexit fishing: half of the boats destroyed in the fleet exit plan are Breton
Forty-five Breton ships will be destroyed as part of the fleet exit plan, or half of the boats selected nationally.
The hard blow is confirmed for Breton fishing. The fleet exit plan, a consequence of restricted access to British waters after Brexit, is taking shape more precisely with the announcement, this Friday, of the number of boats that will be scrapped. As we announced on January 26 , 90 ships are affected nationwide and 34 others are on a waiting list. 164 applications had been filed.
Brittany is the most impacted region of France since of the 64 Breton files submitted, 45 were retained, which represents 4% of the regional fleet and half of the ships destroyed in France as part of this individual support plan. (PAI). Eight boats are on the waiting list. Bigouden trawlers alone account for 26 scrapped vessels .
The conditions for access to compensation - for example the justification of a dependency of at least 20% of the total value of sales of its catches made in British waters in 2019 or 2020 - were set by the government in October . The overall envelope is 65 million euros, financed by the European Commission. The amount of aid is calculated for each ship according to its power.
The grey gurnard, distinctly lacking in the colour of their near relative...
the red gurnard...
and consistently smaller, only the biggest are served up as filets of whole fish. More often than not, a few of these less trendy members of the gurnard family end up in fish stews.
Traditionally, the trawl fleet in Newlyn kept these aboard the boat until the end of a trip when they would be sold for stocker to the local crab boats in the port for bait - and fine bait they make too! In the days when a handful of inshore trawlers worked the grounds NW of the Wolf or the Sevenstones, many tons of small gurnard were landed - all destined to end up between two sticks inside a crab pot!
These days they are far more saleable as their sweet and full flavour has become more widely known in the UK - before that any gurnards sold to be eaten went straight across the channel to all-knowing French consumer!
If you have never tried before, have a go at a fish stew and make sure there are gurnards in there - not forgetting some suitable bread to go mopping up the dish as you go. Who better to help you deliver the finest of fish dishes, none other than Mr Gastronomy, that piquant piscatorial, Mr Keith Floyd! If you decide to watch the programme from his much acclaimed first TV series, Floyd on Fish - the series that sparked an entirley new genre of TV chefs you can sit back and enjoy his time spent at the fish auction in Newlyn, 1980s style!
A hollow victory given that many species are running under 50% but a victory for common sense nonetheless!
MMO/Defra news:
Defra and the MMO have decided to temporarily remove the quota cap which was placed on 440 under-10m vessels with effect from 1st March 2023 for the remainder of the 2023 Fishing Year. Defra intend to have made a final policy decision in respect of the cap before the start of the 2024 Fishing Year. The cap restricted the total amount of quota species that could be landed in a year to 350kg. The cap was put in place to remove latent capacity in the fleet.
Additional quota derived from leaving the EU and an increasing need for the under-10m fleet to diversify enabled the temporary removal of the cap on a trial basis during 2020, 2021 and 2022 fishing years. Following a review of these trials Defra and the MMO have decided to temporarily remove the cap for the remainder of 2023.
The APPG “Fishing in the Data Age” event on 21 February 2023, heard from a variety of speakers on the data collaborations underway involving the fishing industry, and the challenges and opportunities in ensuring effective and fair collection and use of fishing data.
Attendees heard from:
Peter Clark - Operations Director - Marine Management Organisation (MMO)
Tom Catchpole - Principal Fisheries Scientist - Cefas
Steve Mackinson - Chief Scientific Officer - Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association (SPFA)
John Reidar Mathiassen - Senior Research Scientist - Fisheries and New Biomarine Industry (SINTEF)
A full recording of the online event can be found here:
Following the presentations, attendees put their questions to the panel.
Written summaries of all questions and answers are provided below. Please note that these answers reflect the views of the panelists, rather than the APPG Secretariat or its Members.
Have we asked what data we need, and do we have the people who can process that data usefully to yield management advice?
Catchpole said that Cefas has well-established data monitoring programmes which have been designed over years to deliver evidence needed to drive current fisheries management processes, and that prioritisation has been undertaken to establish key data needs for the new Fisheries Management Plans. He said that Cefas has excellent data analysts, and with the skills needed becoming more specialised over time, the agency is always recruiting for these. Catchpole added that working closely with universities, which can be better placed to stay at the forefront of fast-moving technologies, is key for Cefas. He used the example of the University of East Anglia, which has an excellent team working on image analysis using AI.
Balestri said that, at least in the case of Scotland, it is increasingly difficult to find the funding and skilled people to maintain and indeed enhance fisheries research and monitoring; this is in contrast to faster-growing industries such as offshore renewables. She commented that research and monitoring should be more ambitious, which requires enhancing communication between policymakers, scientists, fishers and other stakeholders to help to ensure that the right data is collected.
Many existing data collection programmes focus on larger fishing boats with trained crew. What provision is there for under-10 metre boats without the capacity to measure fish or carry out other data collection?
As an addendum to this question, Sherryll Murray MP asked:
Experienced fishers can make accurate estimations of the grading and weight of their catch. Could this be taken into account with smaller boats which can’t take on the equipment needed for taking measurements?
Peter Clark said that the MMO aims to take the practicalities of different fishing operations into account when designing its programmes. He used the example of the Catch App, which allows for experienced skippers to estimate rather than weigh their catches. In response to Sheryll Murray’s question specifically, he said that in some cases the MMO asks skippers for self-declarations, which are validated afterwards to account for practicalities such as the loss of weight as the catches dry out; where self-declarations are used, the MMO would only ask for additional information where any anomalous data arose. Clark acknowledged that the English fleet has a comparatively large proportion of small vessels, so it is important to include these to avoid missing out on significant swathes of data, which involves working in partnership to ensure solutions exist for all.
Tom Catchpole said that Cefas has also been working with smaller inshore vessels, for example combining AI and camera technology on crab and lobster potters. He said that this particular collaboration has demonstrated the feasibility of automatically generating data from potting vessels and transmitting it straight to a database. Catchpole agreed that there are different challenges for different fleets, and that lack of space, crew, and time on smaller vessels is an issue, although the potential for technology such as mobile phones for capturing images is being explored as a way to address challenges.
How has Cefas convinced vessels to take part in Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) trials, given that fishers associate REM with compliance measures?
Catchpole acknowledged that the topic of compliance and enforcement is always one of the first to be raised in conversations around REM. He said that Cefas views REM as one of a number of tools to generate data, and that in some cases REM offers the best resolution. Catchpole gave the example of skippers in southwest England being willing to install REM systems to generate highly detailed catch data for scientific purposes. He added that it is essential to always discuss the intended use of data at the outset of any collaboration, to make clear to participants about what data would be used and how, and to have data sharing agreements in place.
Clark said that, as with any other source of data, REM data could be used to identify non-compliance. However, this is not the primary purpose of REM when it comes to the MMO’s activities, and the MMO would only use data from this source in a highly targeted way if for monitoring purposes.
Are there opportunities for fisheries to become involved with data collection projects such as EVERYFISH?
John Reidar Mathiassen said that in the specific case of EVERYFISH, there is scope for fisheries to join this ongoing project if they do not need funding to do so. Catchpole added that Cefas’ involvement in EVERYFISH centres on mid-scale demersal fisheries, which connects with Cefas’ other work including the voluntary scientific REM study; as such, there may be opportunities for UK fisheries to get involved with this or with other projects.
Are there mechanisms in development or in place for agencies such as Cefas and IFCAs to collaborate on the analysis of new types of data such as that from in-Vehicle Monitoring Systems (iVMS)?
Jenny Stewart (MMO) said that as part of the iVMS rollout, the MMO is currently focusing on building capability to merge that data across its suite of fisheries data, rather than partnering to share or merge the data more widely.
Catchpole added that the GeoFISH tool which links VMS data with logbook data is also able to incorporate iVMS data, and given that datasets are held with the MMO but accessible by Cefas, some such data connections are already in place.
Could iVMS be used in enforcement where there is no other legal evidence of non-compliance? For example, if a vessel was fishing in a Marine Protected Area?
Clarke said that it was not possible to make generalisations, and that each and any case would have to be considered on its own merits. However, he added that he would be surprised if iVMS was ever used in isolation, and that it is much more likely that such data would need to form part of a suite of evidence, or else could be used to indicate where investigation should be focused.
Sheryll Murray MP commented that if iVMS showed a vessel to be in an area, this alone could not provide proof of fishing activity. In response to Clarke saying that it might be possible to infer that fishing has taken place if the vessel showed a slower rate of knots, Sheryll added that there might be circumstances such as a vessel breaking down. Clarke replied that this is why it is unlikely that iVMS data would ever be used exclusively in any investigation; rather, it could be a useful source of intelligence if combined with other sources to enable the evidential test for prosecution to be passed. He added that prosecution was always a last resort for the MMO anyway.
Would it be feasible for the fishing industry to contribute to the costs of data collection in the future?
Elena Balestri said that this could be considered in the future, but that the focus should be on involving the industry in co-management and enabling it to develop policies and processes that are appealing and practical for fishers. She added that it would be unfair to ask the industry to take on the costs of any initiatives that might be imposed instead of co-developed.
Steve Mackinson agreed with Balestri, saying that costs should be commensurate with roles and responsibilities and the degree to which the industry is passively or actively involved in collaborations. He added that different fleets within the industry have different abilities to shoulder costs, and so there could not be a one-size-fits-all approach. He also noted that the industry already pays for surveys in certain cases (e.g. in transferable quota systems) but that traditionally the public purse has covered costs relating to surveys with a conservation focus.
There is a lot of discussion of data, but who owns it?
Mackinson said that in the case of the Scottish pelagic industry-science data collection programme, the data owners are the data providers. The specific definition is as follows: “Data provider or owner: entity providing data (i.e. individual pelagic vessels and/ or factories), and responsible for agreeing data use”. He added that it is important to have in place a data policy and any data sharing agreements which define different roles and responsibilities.
Balestria said that for any kind of data collection, it is important to establish protocols on data ownership, data sharing agreements and clear understandings of the purpose and intended use of the collected data. She added that as data collection can have implications for confidentiality and business impact, it is essential to clarify what level of anonymisation will be applied to data before it can be published or released to mitigate any such impact.
Given that the same level of traceability expected of fish caught in the UK is not being applied to imports, does this disadvantage the UK fishing industry?
Clark said that some processes are in place for monitoring imports, including partnerships with port health authorities. However, the importance of seafood exports to many UK businesses means that ensuring export processes are in place has been the priority. He acknowledged that more work is needed on imports, and that Defra is keen for this.
