Win a CatchCam camera for free.

For most fishermen, their fishing gear is out of sight after shooting. Once the fishing gear is retrieved, fishermen must rely on their intuition to figure out why they had a good catch or not. CatchCam can help remove the guesswork from fishing. For instance, it can record if bycatch reduction devices are working as they should, allowing juvenile fish to escape and improving selectivity.

 

 

Click here for your chance to win a free CatchCam camera. 

Entries close on the 30th November 2023.

The fleet is at sea again in Newlyn!

With a forecast looking more benevolent after the shenanigans of storm Ciaran, all but a handful of the fleet are now at sea again...

with the market this morning almost entirely devoid of landings...

 

what there were fitted neatly into the back of the van...

a splash of colour on an otherwise dull, grey vista...

there's a wind-farm coming near you it seems...

another hardy yacht en passage...

in search of breakfast...

the Winter of Ladram between trips...

over in Penzance wet dock the beamers are resting...

as work continues on this Phoenix of a punt...

Rowse's latest crabber, the Michael Edward continues her fitting out...

that's it for the Scillonian III this season, who knows what next year will bring with Harland and Wolf showing an intention to run a high-speed ferry link to the Scillys.

Fish of the week 37 - shagreen ray

 

Shagreen ray, like all other rays and skate make excellent eating - a favourite in many people's eyes as they all have distinctive, meaty flavours. Hard to prepare, a fish that is much better left to the skills of your loocal fishmonger who will happily skin and trim your ray wings for you. If fish bones are a thing for you then ray wings are your go-to fish - being closely related to the shark family, the bones are cartilage ands easily removed or even eaten!

Shagreen ray are also one of those fish that have an interesting aspect to their place in the world of decorative fashionable items in that their skin has and in some places still is dried, cured and used as a material to adorn objects. The skin, like that of sharks has been used for centuries as a fine form of sandpaper to smooth and polish.

Fine #FishyFriday in Newlyn

Remnants of Thursday morning's visit from storm Ciaran are now safely moored at the head of the harbour...

as the sky clears and we get a temporary reprieve from westerly winds...

time to check the harbour website for the latest news as the analogue noticeboard went the way of many things during the storm...

riding high at high water...

the bigger boats will be looking to sail today, before the next wave of poor weather rushes in from the west.

 

Free health checks for fishermen - Newlyn.

 

If you are part of the fishing community in Newlyn you can pop along to the Fish Mish for a free Health Check on most 1st & 3rd Thursdays with @HealthCornwall courtesy of Sea Hospital and Fairwinds.

100kt - that's 120mph - winds forecast for storm Ciaran on Wednesday.

 

I've had WindyTV on the weather page of Through the Gaps for a few years now - first time I have ever seen 100knots predicted - 7pm Wednesday! 

The Pointe de Raz webcam could be worth a watch around then.

Shades of February 2014 when the 12th storm that winter hit and 90+mph winds were recorded in Penzance.

Advice on fishing opportunities (2023)

ICES Approach to Fishing Opportunities 

ICES takes a precautionary approach to advising on fishing opportunities, with the goal of achieving maximum sustainable yield (MSY) unless otherwise requested. This means that ICES aims to inform policies that will lead to high, long-term yields while maintaining productive fish stocks in marine ecosystems that meet expected environmental standards.

Annex 2 of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement provides guidelines for applying a precautionary approach within an MSY framework. According to this approach, fish populations must be maintained within safe biological limits in order to achieve MSY. However, within safe biological limits, an MSY approach is necessary to maximise long-term yields. All ICES advice is consistent with the precautionary approach.

MSY is a broad concept that aims to achieve the highest possible yield over the long term. It is not specific about:

• The biological unit to which it is applied (e.g., a single fish stock, a group of related stocks, or an entire ecosystem)

• The models used to provide scientific advice

• The definition of yields

• The management methods used to achieve MSY

ICES defines MSY as maximising the average long-term yield from a given fish stock while maintaining the stock as productive. ICES considers the yield to be maximised as the part of the catch that is landed, measured in weight. This may be calculated relative to the landed catch above a prescribed minimum size, depending on regulations for the individual stock.

Many of the models used to estimate MSY assume that factors not explicitly included in the model will either remain constant or vary around a historical long-term mean. However, marine ecosystems are dynamic, and fish stocks will change not only in response to fishing but also to changes in their prey, predators, and climate. Therefore, ICES considers MSY reference points to be valid only in the short and medium term (generally up to 5-10 years). MSY reference points should be subject to regular reviews and modified according to new information or process understanding.

ICES provides advice on fishing opportunities and stock status for individual stocks to support the stock-by-stock management system. For some stocks, ICES is only requested to advise on status and not on fishing opportunities. In addition to single-stock advice, ICES also provides mixed-fisheries considerations, fisheries overviews, and ecosystem overviews. These encapsulate the technical and biological interactions between stocks at an ecoregion scale.