In-bound fish for Newyn

Where did all the fish go on Wednesday?

Looks like a spectacular light show this fine, calm morning as the sun begins to throw light into the sky from below the horizon...

half an hour later and the hues are warmer and more pronounced...

giving hope for those caught out at sea...

with the weather pattern dictating landings most of the boats are now back at sea with little fish landed this morning...

there's no mistaking the Admiral Gordon's day signal - which strictly speaking should not be flown in port - the day signal indicates that the vessel is using towed gear like a trawl and should be given way to...`

over on the end of the North quay there are signs of life aboard one of the beam trawlers...

currenlty like a fish out of water, the high-speed punt Barracuda waits for orders...

today's auction was all over by 7am...

thought the market was full of quality fish from the inshore boats...

like these mackerel...

and there were a few sharks about to...

boxed and ready to go...

When it's this close to home - Philipino Climate Change delegate's very personal speech at IISD in Warsaw

From just one fishing village in the Philippines

IISD VIDEO: Philippines delegate Naderev Saño COP19 Warsaw from IISD Reporting Services on Vimeo.

'Saving our fish' needs more than a ban on discarding

Banning the practice of throwing unmarketable or over-quota fish back into the sea is just one of the measures needed to deliver sustainable fisheries according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Research carried out by UEA with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and published today in the journal Fisheries Research reveals that a ban will only help future fish stocks if it is accompanied by other measures to reduce total fishing mortality.

Approximately half of the fish caught in marine fisheries are thrown back into the sea, but very few survive. The practice has bedevilled politicians, fisheries managers, scientists and fishermen for many years.

The move to ban discarding has gained widespread public support through the campaigning efforts of supermarkets, pressure groups, chefs including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and other celebrities such as the band Coldplay and the comedian Ricky Gervais. The new European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which is expected to enter into force in 2014 intends to ban the wasteful practice for all quota stocks by 2019.

The research team combined information on landings by English trawlers in the North Sea with data on discards collected by onboard observers. They then used this data to assess how a discard ban will impact the catches and profits of different segments of the fleet.

Key findings:

• A discard ban alone may not reduce unwanted catches.
• A ban in isolation does not create a strong incentive for selective fishing.
• Catch quotas (where all fish caught are counted against a limit) create strong incentives to avoid regulated species, but not other species.
• Profits of some parts of the fleet may be hit unless catch quotas are set differentially.
• Vessels catching the least fish may see the largest profit declines under catch quotas.

Lead researcher Harriet Condie, from UEA's school of Environmental Sciences, said: "We took into account data such as catch and discard figures from fishing trawlers, fish prices and landing costs, to calculate whether banning the practice of discarding will offer enough of an economic incentive to fish sustainably.

"The most important measure to safe-guard over-exploited fish stocks is to reduce the number of individuals being caught. But our research shows that a discard ban in isolation may not result in a dramatic reduction in unmarketable catches of all species.

"If all fish have to be landed, we will get better information on exactly how many fish of each species are being caught and the state of fish stocks. But the fact that fish can no longer be thrown back into the sea will not automatically make their exploitation any more sustainable because we show that there is no significant incentive to avoid catching them.

"We went on to investigate whether a discard ban in conjunction with different management scenarios would work – such as reducing fishing effort and limiting the amount of fish that can be landed.

"We found that a ban combined with catch quotas has the greatest potential to incentivise more selective fishing, but only for regulated species such as cod, haddock and plaice.

"Experience from elsewhere in the world shows that discard bans are only effective if they are enforced by high levels of surveillance or there are economic benefits from landing fish that are currently discarded. But neither of these options is straightforward as policing fisheries is expensive and economic incentives can encourage increased catches of unwanted fish," she added.

Prof Alastair Grant, who supervised the work, said: "As welcome as the public's awareness about discarding may be, our research shows that a move towards the sustainable management of European fish stocks will require more than just a discard ban as the landing of all fish does not itself make exploitation more sustainable.

"A fish that is landed and turned into fishmeal makes as little contribution to future generations as one that is thrown back into the sea dead. The biggest challenge is to reduce fishing mortality, and national and international politics have always made that politically difficult to achieve."

Thomas Catchpole from Cefas said: "Choosing the right measures can be complicated and sufficient time is required to allow fishermen to adjust to a new management approach.

"The recently agreed reforms to the Common Fisheries Policy took years to secure but the policy now includes a phased introduction of a discard ban (completed by 2019) and legally binding commitments to set quotas at levels that achieve maximum sustainable yields of commercial fish stocks. In the interim governments have funded research to quantify and redress the impact of discarding. Catch-quota trials have been funded as have projects to design and use more selective fishing nets.

"A catch quota system provides the potential to remove many of the technical regulations currently in place, which will give fishermen increased flexibility in how they operate their businesses. This will be helped by decentralising the management of European fisheries and using a more regional approach, which was another agreed aspect of the reformed CFP."

 Explore further: EU fish discard ban poses many questions

More information: 'Does banning discards in an otter trawler fishery create incentives for more selective fishing?' by Harriet M, Condie, Alastair Grant, and Thomas L. Catchpole, is published in the journal Fisheries Research on November 11, 2013.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-11-fish-discarding.html#jCp

Fly with the greatest sea bird in the world!

University of Exeter and RSPB scientists attach miniature cameras to gannets nesting on Grassholm nature reserve in Wales

A thrilling bird's eye glimpse of what life on the wing is like for the UK's biggest seabird has been provided by cameras attached to gannets as they soar, skim and dive. Scientists from the University of Exeter and the RSPB attached miniature cameras to some of the gannets that nest on the island nature reserve of RSPB Grassholm in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with fascinating results. 

 The footage gives an impression of the dizzying height the gannets rise to above the rocky cliffs and the speed at which they fly just above the surface of the sea. Most strikingly it captures the moment of a gannet's vertical plunge into the water in search of fish. Steve Votier, of the University of Exeter's environment and sustainability institute, said: "Seabirds spend most of their time at sea away from their nesting sites, making them difficult to study. This camera really helps shed light on their behaviour away from the colony; for example, it allows us to more accurately investigate their reliance on discards from trawlers and how they interact with other birds while far from land. "Gannets are long-lived seabirds and there is still much to learn about their life away from the breeding colony. 

The application of technology to study the private lives of gannets has been influential to our research in the short-term, but the goal is to continue this work in the long-term to help provide a sustainable future for gannets and other marine life." The cameras have provided new information on ways that gannets make use of waste from fishing boats. It was found that male gannets tended to feed more at trawlers than females, a difference that may have conservation implications when a ban on discarding is implemented under reforms to the EU common fisheries policy. 

 Mark Bolton, principal conservation scientist at the RSPB, who helped develop the devices, said: "The lightweight camera works alongside a GPS unit that allows us to accurately track birds' flight patterns and measure how long they are flying, feeding or resting. This information can answer both scientific and conservation questions and could contribute to the designation of marine conservation zones in Wales." The tiny island of Grassholm is home to the fourth-largest northern gannet colony in the world, with just under 40,000 pairs breeding there. More than half of the world's gannets nest around the UK coast.

Story courtesy of the Guardian's Envornmental pages.

Beam trawling aboard the Billy Rowney from Newlyn - a film by Matthew Sommerville

Enjoy a few days at sea aboard one of Newlyn larger boats, the beam trawler Billy Rowney with skipper Steve Mosely.

Mighty mizzly Monday morning

Like a scene from a science fiction movie Tom keeps watch...

as the boys on the Kastel Paol make ready for another day on the pots...

back on the market Monday's are for mullet...

measuring...

mackerel, and even Spanish mackerel...

more megrims than you can shake a fist at...

magnifique bass...

with the Cynthia being the main man...

the inshore trawlers who made it away over the weekend were rewarded with a good run of squid...

while one of the beamers landed this pair of ray wings, prepared as they have for centuries by cutting out the body frame so that the wings could be hung out to dry.