Daily Telegraph and that court case - "the pirates of Newlyn"

More articles have appeared in the national press over the court case in Truro this week. The Daily Telegraph covers the story from several angles and, rather ingraciously, uses the term 'Pirates'.

While the point that there was quota available to buy may have been true at the time - there are many other times when there is no such quota available, anywhere - and in those times fishermen all over the UK are faced with a dilemma - they cannot fish selectively and as a result they see tons of fish being thrown back dead - that is not conservation - hence, in the past, many have justified their action on moral grounds.

With the port record broken, the first week in 2009 ends in the black

Visiting tug, MTS Taktow rests against the new Quay.....
astern of the tug, two of the Rowse fleet shine under the light from the quay....
another Windcat on passage takes fuel......
BritanniaV's varnish shows up well in the morning light alongside the fishmarket....
good news for the beamer boys as 'black gold' continues to fill fishrooms well into the new year.....
the George Johannes put a good first 2009 trip ashore.....
with much tooing and froing on the market to get the fish shifted to the waiting transport....

and so much of it that Ocean Fish have had to bring down a second wagon to cope with the demand.

Penzance Atlantic rowing challenge talk at Mission

Later this year, two local rowers will set out to cross the Atlantic in their plywood boat. Phil Pring and Skippy Cummings have built the plywood boat while Phil has attended Truro & Penwith College to obtain his yachtmaster certificate.

You can here all about the adventure from the two men will givea talk at the Newlyn Fishermen's Mission on Tuesday at 7.30pm.

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Now the good news! - Stevenson's beamer breaks port record!

Hard men of Newlyn - Captain Billy Worth and crew are all smiles after setting a new port record for Newlyn, whic now stands at £50,300 - photo courtesy of Phil Lockley. As a sign of the times, not many years ago the crew on this boat would have probably numbered seven hands.....

As if to compensate for yesterday's gloom shrouding the port, the sun shone over the market this morning as W&S beamer St Georges under the command of skipper Billy Worth smashed the port record with a trip worth £50,300!

"It was need , not greed"

Black fish court case sentences - after many months of proceedings the biggest case of its kind in Cornwall was settled in part at Truro Crown Court today.

Read the press release: "The owners and skippers of six Newlyn fishing vessels who deliberately over-fished protected fish stocks for financial gain and an auctioneer who sold their fish were ordered to pay a total of £188,450 in fines and costs by a judge at Truro Crown Court on January 6th 2009."

Coverage in the media includes:
The Cornishman
Western Morning news
and an article which appears, interestingly enough, in the Environment section of the Guardian's website
and a response from fellow fishermen in the Devon port of Brixham - home to the country's largets beamer fleet.

and here is a reminder of a short video made for the Guardian Newspaper earlier this year highlighting the eniquity of the quoat system and the law.

Hake, which made up much of the fish identified as illegally retained, landed and sold as 'black fish', is the main target for gill netters during the summer months....
owners of the Ben Loyal (at the time) pensioners Don and Joan Turtle seen here leaving the court, "it was need, not greed.... our family boat directly supported 25 people"........
others involved were the owners, including 83 year old Doreen Hicks, of the Ben My Chree,......
the CKS, then owned and skippered by Drew Davies, "the fine doesn't match the crime"....
the CarolH and......
the Ajax owned by Barney and Cynthia Thomas, and their respective skippers were given the largest fines......
the owners of the Girl Patricia, sadly lost last summer, were also fined....
the Ben Loyal was skippered by John Turtle, son of Don and Joan Turtle.

Looking ahead

Gulls look for every scrap of fish they can after the Christmas break......
and in weather this cold ice on the fish seems almost superfluous....
with three boats in the fleet and a 16m steel vivier crabber currently under construction at a Cornish yard - the Rowse fleet looks forward to a prosperous New Year.....
for the unwary seeking to drive across the prom when coming in from the Penzance side be warned - Ross Bridge is now shut for repairs.....
gutting at sea, even singlehanded means never being alone!