Waves from Mike Mahon felt North of the Border

Grimmy Mike's one-man over-quota dumping scandal gets a mention from Scottish MEP Struan Stevenson in an address at a Fisheries Summit meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland yeasterday. At the moment, Mike's boat is laid-up with rudder problems so there's no free fish for local pensioner's this week!

Post Office provides al-fresco dining for the patrons of the Star

Some wag has provided additional seating for the patrons of the Star Inn outside the Post Office this morning.....
half a dozen Porbeagle sharks keep an eye on one of DEFRA staff sample the fish landed....
another visiting film crew have plenty to shoot on a busy market....
though we are not too sure why Robert George has taken up such a defensive position talking to the journalist....

another CEFAS member Sam is sampling otoliths from plaice....the rings, which enable the lab back at Lowestoft, are clearly visible.

65 and out

Waiting patiently for a landing space under the crane, Quentin on the Sea Spirit.....
ex-Lowestoft fisherman Steven Leach gets to do the mending ashore waiting for his son on the Achieve to arrive.....
one of the young bloods steams away from the market....
while another retrieves a few boxes from the water...
holding on to his cap, master GRP boat builder Danny Downing powers his punt away from the market - if you need anything doing in GRP on the boat - he's your man.......
Quentin finally gets under the crane to hoist his boxes ashore ....
down the New Quay aboard the Cornishman after landing there is much work to do on the gear....
so the gas axe is put to good use to cut away the fishing line.....
which involves a little cooling down process, the man with the hose is celebrating today...
so it's a last chance to leave his mark aboard the boat.....
for Rob on his 65th birthday, it's finally time to heave on the gear for the last time and throw his bag ashore for good!.....
the transport has arrived for the Crystal Sea II and Valhalla....
making good use of the shelterdeck rails to store some spare buffs....
the Achieve makes it to the market where father Leach will undoubtedly lend a hand to land and leave the mending for later.

Early birds get the shots

Pin-up Stevenson's auctioneer Ryan has a word with the photo shoot team on the market.....
time to let go the ends on the Elisabeth Veronique......
the Carol H has opted to split her netting trip and obviously hopes to catch some good prices on Thursday's market, probably the best export market day of the week for hake and other fish bound for Spanish or French markets......
plenty of pollack on the market this morning kept all hands on their toes......
quality inshore trip from the FY registered Harvester.....

on the pontoons, the ex-Salcombe Watson class lifeboat has been joined the Tyne class all-weather boat from Bibby in Yorkshire.

Visitors welcome!

Ex-Salcombe Watson Class lifeboat lovingly maintained by Frank Swallows gets the once over from Edwin, ex-cox of the Penlee lifeboat.....
she has some stylish seating arrangement up for'ard.....
aboard the late-season yacths its the girls that get to go off and do the shopping it seems...
a good sign, the New Quay is devoid of boats....
on both sides!......
still bringing in the visitors with its largely Italian & Meditaranean menu.....
the Pizza Patio housed in the old Newlyn Laundry also provides alfresco eating......
on the menu this week chez 'through the gaps' following Seafoods campaign to encourage us to eat fish at least twice a week - fillets of haddock in a light Thai curry sauce served with soba japanese noodles ......

along the rode the gallery is now sporting a new flag pole to atract viewers.

Another Newlyn waterboy wins an award - but this time it's not for fishing

Yet another Newlyn Bucca scoops an award - this time it's the turn of globe-trotting surf photographer Mickey Smith, who has just won the prestigious British Isles Surfing Hotshot Photographer award at this year's Surfstock festival - read more here. He's kept good company over the years with other recognisable names from the local quayside - check out the connection between this vessel that once provided a living from marine salvage for the old man of fellow surfer Jack Johns.

It's a scalloper thing

This Phillipino crewman from the visiting Troon registered Scottish boat Olivia Jean will no doubt be enjoying the more temperate climate down in the Western Approaches as he welds the dredge bar back together.....
below the quay, another Phillipino crew member crosses the enormous working deck to sort the delivery of spare tooth bars and dredge parts.....
on the quay for repair there are more bars awaiting repair....
the ex-beam trawler now has a new lease of life as a TN Trawlers scalloper.....
alongside Newlyn Art Gallery, a new installation is in the process of being erected.

Newlyn bathed in morning sunlight

The James RH is silhouetted against the rising sun over the slip......
take the dog and the bike for a run.....
its that gold-plated effect......
the Emma Louise is almost all white......
die-hard yella-wellies are still in evidence at the tail end of the sailing season.

Autumnal equinox brings out the best in the weather

With some space down the quay, the Intution loads the waiting vivier lorry....
latest addition to the fleet, inshore boat, the Leon is having a major refit.....
still on the hard after her collision, a close-up of the damage to the starboard side of the Nantewas - here you can clearly see the direction and angle of damage caused by the bulbous bow of the vessel that is understood to have been involved, a container ship called the Herm....
....at the time of the collision, shortly before 10.00am, the weather was Easterly 2-3 under a clear sky - skipper Roger and crew Terry were mending one of the twin-rig trawls in the stern of the boat whilst dodging slowly ahead......with the container ship at 135 metres and just short of 10,000 tons and the Nantewas at 9.6metres and 36 tons it is nothing short of miraculous that these guys are still with us..... to give you some idea of the scale involved, the containers on the deck of this container ship are 12m long - almost 3m longer than the Nantewas.....
Monday's market was dotted with a substantial number of 'line caught' tags - and on bass too!....
there were also some boxes of quality from one of the few beamers to land....
with the grading machine back in action, the job of handling the Defiant's big trip of haddock was made much easier....
Charlie is kept on his toes as the plaice come down....
the conveyor, after passing over a weight sensor at the beginning of the line the flippers sort the fish by weight....into boxes below, ready to be pulled off when full to the tally section at the end of the line....
the tuna boat Charisma has her wheelhouse windows lit by the rising sun.....

and its time to scrub down the Lowestoft registered, Sea Spray after landing her shot of line caught pollack.