Missing mackerel - not like the 'old days'!

While bottom trawling aboard the Inverness registered Milford trawler Girl Freda INS89 skippered by Bobby Cairns.......
a full lift of dead mackerel trawled from an area in Mount's Bay known as, The Pits. These photos were taken early in 1979 when a large fleet of freezer trawlers, stern trawlers and pursers were working in and around the Bay......
the fish were either discarded on purpose for being too large - in the early days of mackerel fishing the market was better for small fish so boats would slip their hauls if the size mix was wrong - or the result of damaged trawls - the mixed state of decay suggests two lots of dumped or lost fish on the same ground - the smell was horrendous!