Plenty of fine fish for the final May #FishyFriday auction!

Trinity house service vessel Galatea at anchor with a deck cargo of cardinal buoys...

Penzance promenade, the only prom in Cornwall showing off its new set of flags...

plenty of fish on the market at the end of the week with, unusually, monk tails...

John Dory...

hake...

and monk cheeks from prawn boats...

quality flats from the local beam trawler, Cornishman...

while the inshore boats found some bass...

while the lack of mackerel is evidence is evident that this is not een the bttom of a ox covered by one of the finest proponents of the art of handlining in the area...

to keep the restaurants happy there were however plenty of red mullet...

and even a few weavers...

to go with the seriously tasty ray wings...

and megrim sole...

hopefully this fender will provide some pier protection when put in place...

the Brit is on the slip...

the paint job on the lighthouse is not yet completed...

heavy gear on the prawn boat Daystar.

Mid-week action in Newlyn

Despite plenty of small prawns to deal with at sea and gear to mend in port, there are still plenty of smiles aboard the Revival...

at the end of every trip, deck gear and trawls have to be checked and repaired for wear and tear...

busy scenes aboard the port's biggest boat, Enterprise...

further up the quay it's landing time...

aboard the sailor's star...

another oat highlighting the now crucial role foreign crew like these guys from the Philippines play in manning the bigger boats in the UK fleet...

yet more landing action as yet another Scottish boat, this time the seiner Acionna lands her trip of white fish to the market...

and the importance of recycling old net goes on...

at this time of year, Newlyn benefits from the continuing presence of Scottish prawn boats...

and the occasional classic sailing boat, this time it is the Leader, the largest sailing fishing vessel of her type back in the day.

 

Summer is just around the corner.....

In the meantime, low cloud almost hides the south pier...

Cod, despite the ever-present smile, had no fish this morning...

while the market had plenty, from the beam trawls of the Enterprise...

with some top quality reds...

a good mix of ray...

and some might meaty turbot from the Silver Dawn...

big head-on monk from the prawn boats...

and some very creative shellfish - damp cloth (traditionally hemp sacks) is used to cover live shellfish which allows them to 'breathe' and effectively extend their shelf life...

one or three bass about...

more megs...

and some cracking haddock from the Boy Enzo...

cuttles don't get much fresher than this...

nor octopus...

pollack...

mackerel...

or bass from Cap'n Cod landed last night...

hopefully, Andrew didn't put his back out heaving these big Mediterranean octopus aboard...

now, where did that box of monk go?..

pristine reds...

and some huge JDs...

high-water on a big tide allows the bigger boats to stay longer at the fish market...

 after landing to go through their gear...

keeping it clean...

happy to accept a fish for breakfast...

and two seconds later surfacing expectantly waiting for another, the harbour seal and his insatiable appetite...

Vision V in to land...

now there's a familiar face, young Roger signs off yet another list of completed jobs aboard the 'new' Twilight  in readiness for her maiden voyage under new ownership and name...

plenty of room to land at the market for two.

 

The French fishing crisis on the front page of the “marin”

A few weeks before the Fisheries and Seafood Conference which is being held in Lorient, “the sailor” devotes his May report to a sector which is going through a very bad time. The fishing industry, faced with several crises, is resisting. But until when?

How many crises will the sector still have to face? 

Barely forgotten that of covid, that of Brexit arose, with direct consequences in 2023: the loss of licenses in British waters and the outright destruction of part of the deep-sea fleet. Leaving many fishermen at the docks from Hauts-de-France to the south of the Bay of Biscay.

And it didn't stop there. At the end of the year, fishermen across the western Atlantic learned that they would not escape the closure of the Bay of Biscay for a month at the start of 2024. Another hard blow for the profession which wonders if it will ever see The end of the tunnel. Because other clouds are still gathering above its head: in the north, where certain fishermen will be prohibited from working in British and Belgian marine protected areas, in the south where a West Med 2 plan is looming which could further constrain activity, and, again in the Bay of Biscay, where a new closure is envisaged from the beginning of 2025. And what about fuel aid, the renewal of which is far from being confirmed. The cup is full.

The entire sector impacted

Today the entire sector is suffering because, deprived of inputs, many ports have seen their activity plummet. And fish merchants must now find other sources of supply. Not to mention the equipment manufacturers and construction sites whose health is also weakened. In this context, the sector will have difficulty responding to the decarbonization efforts to which it is asked to comply.

Also in the contents of this May issue: the disappointed expectations of European purse seiners in the Indian Ocean, the financial needs of European commercial ports to develop their activities, the positive repercussions of the crisis in the Red Sea on the western Mediterranean ports, the Green mineral's solution to exploit funds in Norway, the full boom in oil and gas orders, the government's promises concerning the timetable for the deployment of wind power and the means of the Cross de La Garde in the Mediterranean on the eve of major meetings you popular.

100 Gwatts of offshore energy coming your way - that's enough for 70 million homes.

While the fishing industry is worth 174 million to the economy, the seas off Cornwall boast one of the best wind resources in the world.

Watch the video

The region’s proximity to the Celtic Sea, coupled with its deep knowledge of marine operations and offshore renewables, has led to an ambition to generate clean energy from Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) projects.

Explore Cornwall's role in the race to net zero in out latest film featuring Steve Jermy CEO Celtic Sea Power, Kate Kennally CEO Cornwall Council, and Lucas Lowe-Houghton Co-founder Tugdock, including:

- The Crown Estate is setting out the sea areas where the first 4GW of FLOW will be deployed by 2035

- The Celtic Sea is set to be a world leading location for FLOW, with a potential resource estimated at more than 100GW

- Celtic Sea Power – the Cornwall Council-owned company was set up in 2021 to drive the development of FLOW to help deliver economic and environmental benefits to Cornwall and the wider region

Watch this space.