Fish galore! It's a fine #FishyFiday in Newlyn.

Cool cloud colours this morning but still autumnal temperatures pervade...

the toad-like skin of a turbot...

alien limb-like monk tail...

young Mr Nowell missing the Dorys this week...

not sure what the collective noun is for weavers, a bolt?...

the Enterprise  is much more interested in caching these beauties...

while fellow beam trawler Algrie landed some good quality gurnard...

to go with Mr Worth's megs...

this would feed a table for six at local fine dining establishments like The Shore

clear decks on the baby Brit...

cracking tub gurnards from the netter...

Ocean Pride to go with their pollack...

while this cracking bluefin...

confusingly sporting yellow fins received some interest from the buyers...

nice reds form the Algrie...

mystery lot on the auction, must be worth something to sacrifice a pillow case!..

even more cracking reds from Cadgwith...

bass are still relatively scarce...

though Tom on the Harvest Reaper led the charge to land any quantity of John Dory...

red sail at dawn...

the Steph of Ladram, ex Sapphire II...

just a little land fog rolling down the Coombe this morning.

 

MSC annual awards - a special shout out and kudos to Cornish Hake!

 

We are delighted to announce the MSC UK Awards 2021 Winners! This year the awards were streamed from the prestigious National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth for the second year running.

Now in its 8th year, the MSC UK Awards celebrates the outstanding achievements and performance in sustainable fishing and seafood across the entire UK business spectrum. Despite the unprecedented challenges of the past year, there has been great progress in a number of areas.

Major retailers and brands hailed for their outstanding achievements as four new categories introduced Tesco has reclaimed the crown for Supermarket of the Year in the Marine Stewardship Council’s annual UK awards for continuing to increase the number of MSC labelled products and species on its shelves.

Woofs won Pet Food Brand of the Year, in one of four new categories introduced this year, as animal lovers are increasingly choosing seafood options which are good for their pets and the ocean too.

Lidl scooped MSC UK Mid-size store Retailer of the year as well as Aquaculture Stewardship Council UK Retailer of the Year in the first year the guest category from ASC has been introduced in recognition of the progress made by the farmed seafood sector over the past year.

The annual awards, now in their 8th year, were streamed for a second-year running from the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth on October 7, 2021.

MSC UK ambassador, acclaimed restaurateur, chef and author, Mitch Tonks, was on the expert judging panel along with CJ Jackson, chief executive of Billingsgate Seafood School, Marcus Coleman chief executive of Seafish and Dr Eleanor Adamson, Fisheries Programme Manager at the Fishmongers’ Company.

Waitrose picked up two awards – Fish Counter of the Year and also Product of the Year – another newly introduced category – for its No. 1 Yellowfin Tuna which was launched in March this year – the first chilled MSC yellowfin available in a UK retailer.

In marketing, Sainsbury’s won Marketing Champion of the Year for their launch of an online MSC supermarket shelf, while the Co-op achieved Social Media Hero of the Year for its innovative and personal social media posts promoting their MSC certified range.

Welcoming everyone to the awards, Seth McCurry, MSC UK & Ireland Senior Commercial Manager, said: “In spite of another challenging year, we have seen strong continued commitment to sourcing sustainable seafood. Our MSC UK Awards are a great opportunity to celebrate outstanding achievement and performance in sustainable fishing and seafood across the entire UK business spectrum. With new categories introduced this year, I am pleased that we are able to recognise the range of contributions fisheries, suppliers, restaurants, brands and retailers are making to ensure we have fish for future generations to come.”

Amali Bunter, Head of Responsible Sourcing and Ethical Trade, from Lidl GB said: “Sourcing fish and seafood sustainably is something we are passionate about and we are delighted to win the MSC Mid-sized Store Retailer of the Year award for the sixth year in a row. This award is testament to the efforts of our buying teams in driving a sustainable category, working closely with our suppliers every day. We are proud to have increased our range of MSC certified products in the last year and look forward to continuing to work closely with the MSC in the years to come, delivering affordable and sustainable products for our customers when they shop in our stores.”

Stewart Irvine, co-founder of Woofs said: “I’d like to thank MSC for this prestigious award. Several people within our organisation have worked tirelessly on promoting the values of sustainability and receiving this accolade is justification for their efforts.

“I look forward to working closely with MSC in the future, as we endeavour to protect the valuable resources of our oceans.”

Andy Boulton, Senior Manager Aquaculture and Fisheries, from Waitrose, said: “We’re delighted to accept the award for Fish Counter of the Year for the fourth year in a row and extremely pleased that we have also been awarded the first ever MSC UK Product of the Year award for our MSC certified yellowfin tuna. We’re proud to have been the first UK retailer to launch MSC certified chilled pre-pack yellowfin tuna in March this year.

“The blue MSC ecolabel on our counters not only helps our customers identify sustainable fish and seafood, but also recognises and rewards efforts made by fishermen to ensure our oceans remain healthy. We’re always looking for new MSC certified species to add to our counter and are proud of our more recent additions to the counters.”

Other award winners were Birds Eye for Frozen Brand of the Year, baby food brand Ella’s Kitchen for Newcomer of the Year, New England Seafood International for Retail Supplier of the Year, and Brakes and M&J for Foodservice Wholesaler of the Year.

In a new category, Tom Russell, from the Poole Harbour clam and cockle fishery won Fisher of the Year for showing great leadership in setting up a demonstrably sustainable fishery, and Cornish hake won Ocean Hero for its years of hard work and commitment to sustainability.

Anstruther Fish Bar in Fife, Scotland won Foodservice Champion of the Year while Direct Seafoods won Fresh Fish Foodservice Supplier of the Year.

The winners’ award was once again designed and manufactured using 3D printing by Cornish-based J Supplied 3D, made in collaboration with Fishy Filaments, who recycle fishing nets from the MSC certified hake fishery in Cornwall into engineering grade nylon filament. Fishy Filaments' innovative harbour-side recycling technology was invented in Cornwall and saves about 98% of carbon emissions when compared to using equivalent virgin material. The unique award was designed by artist Charlotte Dawe.

See the awards page in full here.

Fishing funding can be yours - apply now!

See how the Animateurs can help you with your fishing funding application. Get in touch now (funding must be spent by March 2022) All explained on short video.

Calling all fishers! 

 

We are here to support fishermen and their communities The Fisheries and Seafood Scheme (FaSS) delivered by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is now open to applications. We will be supporting applications from fishers and prioritising applications focused on health and safety and collective projects with Fishing Associations and ports and harbours. If you would like to discuss a project, please get in contact and we can arrange a visit or Zoom call as COVID restrictions permit.

We act as your agent to help you make an application online. We can support you thorough the all steps of the application, quote finding, and claiming.

PLEASE NOTE, WE HAVE NO FORMAL RELATION TO THE MARINE MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION.

Project Enquiry form

If you have a project idea please fill out a project enquiry form and email or post it to the address on the form, alongside the relevant documents on this checklist. 

Please call or text us if you would like to discuss your project over the phone on 07534580450 or 07864087119.

Project Guidance

Magical Monday morning in Newlyn.

When the light is as good as this...

Newlyn is the place to be with your camera...

to capture the early morning action...

as the netters...

get set for the coming neap tide, leave their berths...

head for the ice works...

and take ice...

leaving skipper Richard Carrol on crabber, Nicola of Ladram patiently waiting for a berth to pick up his bait for the day...

the auction is underway with Cap'n Cod landing the...

result of yesterday's labours...

along with his fellow inshore fishers...

including plenty from the boys over Falmouth way who put ashore plenty of mackerel...

over the years there have only been a handful of Rays bream landed on the market, seen much more often on Scottish auctions, this one priced out at around £16 a kilo...

seemingly just as elusive squid in any quantity are still hard to come by

unlike plentiful plaice...

inshore trawl John Dory and ray...

with a good spread of Dovers...

Nigel has his work cut out getting a ton of gear aboard the good ship Phoenix...

no doubt he would be happy to see a few of these drop on the deck late in the day...

this year has seen consistent ray landings for the inshore boats...

and even John Dory are still keen to show their faces on the market...

more than enough to keep buyers like young George happy with boxes of top quality fish to satisfy their demanding restauranteur customers...

keeping a watchful eye on the things, Ivan Ellen at est...

the latest crabber in the fleet, the Galway registered Molly Bawn.

Harbourmaster Rob Parsons to set sail for Torbay.

In a move, that will have come as a surprise to many, Newlyn harbourmaster Rob Parsons has decided to move on and will be taking up a similar post to command Torbay harbour in Devon.

Ex-Navy officer Rob took over the helm from harbourmaster Andrew Munson who had been in post for 30 years at a time when not only the harbour but the fishing industry in general was beginning to come to terms with a new world order - the consequences of growing concern for the environment and the impact of fishing sustainably were beginning to make themselves felt at all levels, not least in the day-to-day running of England's largest fishing port.

Increasing legislation meant that many working practices both at sea and ashore began to change significantly with the result that Newlyn had to look hard at catching up in a world where standing on boxes of fish was still the norm and many of the local fleet would qualify as vintage if they were household items.

Under Rob's tenure, market manager Lionel now logs a super-efficient fleet where all but a few are now modern fully sheltered steel fishing machines where modern fish and gear handling equipment are the norm, even down to many of the smaller single-handed boats. The new navy blue broom swept clean as harbour property and quays were rid of dumped and abandoned gear or given a facelift and several wrecks removed as tough HSE regulations dictated a more rigorous approach to harbour operations and management. 

Plans for a completely new fish market structure had been shelved in previous years.

Top of the list of structural changes was a well overdue revamp of the existing fish market - so it was down to Rob and the Harbour Commissioners to create a fish auction worthy of selling fish in the 21st century.

Eventually, a new set of plans were drawn up and visits to and from other modern ports including Brixham for research purposes, saw 2018 herald out the old fish market building transformed...

into three well-lit, refrigerated auction halls and a huge fridge for day-boat fish though the continuing the shout auction...

finally ended when a totally computerised auction saw Newlyn fish sold online for the first time in January 2020. 

Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioners Chairman, Rob Wing commented.

“We thank Rob warmly for his major contribution to the success of Newlyn Harbour as a modern, fit-for purpose, strategic fishing port and congratulate him on his new appointment, it has not always been easy and Rob has overcome a number of seemingly unsurmountable challenges with hard work and resilience, but he leaves Newlyn in a much better place than when he found it to hand over to his successor, for which, we are most grateful. We look forward to working with the new incumbent to build on Rob’s many achievements during his time here and wish him well for the future.” 

Through the Gaps wishes Rob all the best at the helm of his new command - his support for the Newlyn Fish Festival made it an event that, now the major market building changes and Covid restrictions have hopefully passed we hope his successor will see the festival re-introduced for the benefit of the port's fishing community - bon voyage Rob!