Early morning action in Newlyn.

Just a short selection of clips catching a few boats in the fleet as they return to Newlyn - Silver Dawn just before dawn, the beam trawler Billy Rowney and the netter Stelissa, plus a few herring being landed by the ring netter Asthore.

Newlyn webcam goes live - never miss out on the action again!

Come rain or snow, storms or blazing sunrises, now you can watch the action, live as it happens and follow the fleet as they leave and return Through the Gaps in Newlyn! Use an AIS service like VesselTracker to follow your favourite boat at sea and then watch them live entering the harbour - and check out the weather at the same time.

The livestreaming service has been kindly supplied courtesy of Camsecure and South West Digital - between them the companies cater for a wide variety of web and home based digital content from satellite TV aerial installation to web based CCTV - especially useful for monitoring and safety purposes.

As the sun goes down or at night you will notice a sequence of three flashes - this is the Low Lee buoy - an eastern cardinal marker warning shipping of danger on its west side - the Low Lee reef.

More information about the buoyage system managed by Trinity House can be found here.

Saturday scenes

Heading back in, the Billy Rowney...

makes for the gaps of Newlyn Harbour...

as skipper Peter unleashes the night's work...

a 5 ton haul of herring...

easily identifiable with their upturned noses...

the ring netter Asthore was built for the job...

the fish are brailled from the tanks on the boat...

filled with iced water...

to keep the fish in top condition...

before they are offloaded...

into the insulated tubs, also full of iced water...

the harbour is host to more than just a fishing fleet, Saturday mornings sees some of the gig teams out practising while it is too choppy to head for the Bay with a crew of novices...

flying the flag...

for Cornish herring this morning...

with a fly-by from the expectant gull population out looking for breakfast...

back home at the end of her trip, having landed in France, the gill netter Stelissa...

major work is needed aboard the Trevessa IV so it is time to clear the decks...

the decommissioned Excellent, still looking for a home to go to, latest suggestion is to turn her upside down and make her into a meeting-place-come-cafe for fishermen to replace the now closed Mission cafe...

lost cargo Vanish bottles appear to be appearing everywhere!..

the last of the Stevenson trawlers, the Cathryn and a big sister astern...

in the pink...

she would make an 'Excellent' Cafe!

Flooded with fish on #FishyFriday, and a little drop of rain too!

Cool cod...

delicious Dory...

all get logged by Cefas collecting landing data...

and this morning there is plenty of fish to chose fromt...

 with big trips from four of the port's beam trawl fleet...

though it is a case of horses for courses when it comes to certain kinds of fish and the method employed by the boat to fish - in this instance, two hake are the entire catch of the beam trawler Resurgam after a week at sea - that is why the port has developed a fleet of gill netters to catch hake and big white fish like pollack...

beam trawlers successfully target fish like these brill that hug the seabed much more closely than free swimming predatory hake...

and turbot...

gurnard...

monk...

and megrims...

and more brill from the Sapphire II...

at the other end of the market there are plenty of fish from the netter Ajax...

to keep the buyers busy checking what they can pay...

with fish being landed in every major European port this morning prices are not likely to be especially high...

 even for quality fish like hake...

and there is plenty more yet to sell...

keeping in the black not the red...

and this time there are two cracking bream - one gilt-nosed...

the other is Couch's bream, easily identifiable by the white tips on the tail...

and the gold or gilt band across the nose of the bream...

enough to put a smile on all the market faces this morning...

as the last of the fish ate tagged...

the netter Silver dawn makes it back into port to land.

#FishyFriday National Fish 'n Chip finals!

Follow the Top 10 finalists on their respective journeys to the Grand Final in London in the Independent Takeaway Fish and Chip Shop of the Year Award 2016

Edited and produced by Beard Askew Productions
Executive Producer for Seafish: Andy Gray

Find out more: http://www.fishandchipawards.com

New measures to protect bass stocks are 'unacceptable', say recreational sea anglers.

Recreational sea anglers in West Cornwall say that a package of Government measures designed to protect bass stocks are "completely unacceptable" and are demanding an explanation from Fisheries Minister George Eustice.

As part of a wider European Union initiative designed to arrest the decline of bass stocks, for six months from the start of this year, all recreational anglers throughout the UK will not be permitted to land any bass – if fish are caught, they have to be returned to the sea.

At the same time however, commercial gill netters will be permitted to catch 1,300 tonnes in four of those six months, a rise of 300 tonnes from their previous quota.

Malcom Gilbert, the conservation officer for the Cornish Federation of Sea Anglers (CFSA), says recreational sea anglers are fully behind the drive to restore bass stocks but the new proposals "make no sense" and are "completely unacceptable".

"Anglers have been saying that the bass fisheries need protecting since the 1970s – we have been campaigning for better conservation measures for years," he said.

"But the way to do it is to stamp down on everybody - recreational anglers take the least amount of fish yet we are being hit by a big stick while commercial fishermen are being allowed to catch even more fish. It really is inexplicable."

Mr Gilbert has written to Mr Eustice, the MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, saying that the new package of measures, due to be rubber-stamped by the EU this week, are flawed.

He claims that his constituency houses a "huge" number of recreational anglers – "probably the highest percentage of any constituency in Cornwall" – and that the MP is "playing with fire" if he does not come up with a convincing explanation for the measures in their current form.

"Rather as people who go out picking blackberries from hedgerows think it is their historic right to do so, so anglers believe it is their right to catch fish from the sea to feed their families," he added.

"At a stroke that right is being removed without any consultation yet they would be prepare to forgo this right if it was part of a proper, well-thought out scheme to ensure the future of the species."

Peter Maddern, secretary of Mount's Bay Angling Society (MBAS), agreed with Mr Gilbert that the situation was unfair.

Full story courtesy of the Cornishman newspaper:

Read more: http://www.cornishman.co.uk/New-measure-protect-bass-stocks-unacceptable-say/story-28578269-detail/story.html#ixzz3xstV6bDW 
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