All in a weekend's work.

One small tug should suffice......
time to let go the ends aboard the Cornishman......
and once through the gaps drop the derricks to make for a more comfortable ride when steaming to the grounds.......
with a few jobs to be done below the waterline it's time for Clive to get the boat ashore, first by passing the slings under the bow......
and then attaching the lifting chains.......
once ashore a steadying hand guides her away from the quayside......
with a little help from the boy........
a twin rigger's 'clump' awaits collection.......
out comes the shaft from the punt Cynthia up for a bottom scrub.

Vision of Cornwall almost in sight of land!

With less than a hundred miles to go the morning, the boys aboard the Vision of Cornwall are due to make landfall in Antigua over the next few days. After two and a half thousand miles covered since leaving La Gomera in the Canary Islands on January the 10th their mission to raise money for the Cornwall Blind Association has raised thousands of pounds. Both men are gig rowers so they should make a real difference to their team's chances this season on their return after this serious training exercise!

Celestial Jumbo makes a welcome return to St Ives.

The St Ives Jumbo Association is celebrating the return of a traditional Jumbo beach boat to the port. These two masted fishing boats, named after the elephant at London Zoo that caused such interest, formed the mainstay of the St Ives' fleet over 100 years ago and the boats all but disappeared by the 1920s.

Boat builder and big Jumbo fan Johnny Nance used archive material from the St Ives museum to re-create the new Jumbo, named Celeste, in Collumpton, Devon.

Pete Goss has been roped in to help with the cause and will be giving a talk at a fund raising event in April. 'An Evening with Pete Goss' takes place on Friday 9th April. The Guildhall, St.Ives. Doors 7pm. Admission £5.

There'll be a raffle and a brief auction, and, of course, there will be a bar provided by the St.Ives Lions Club. To reserve your tickets, contract the Tourist Information Centre, The Guildhall, St.Ives TR26 2DS or call 01736 796297.

It could be you!

So now's your chance Quentin!

Read on for this message to the world’s seafarers from IMO (International Maritime Organisation)

"The International Maritime Organization has decided to dedicate this year by choosing, as the theme for World Maritime Day, "2010: Year of the Seafarer". Our intention is to pay tribute to you, the world's 1.5 million seafarers - men and women from all over the globe - for the unique, and all too often over-looked, contribution you make to the wellbeing of all of us.

We will do so with deep appreciation, in recognition of the extraordinary service you render every day of your professional life, frequently under dangerous circumstances, in delivering, to the more than 6.5 billion people of the world, the wheat that makes our daily bread, the gas and oil that warms our homes or moves our vehicles and the gifts we will share and enjoy with our families and friends over this Festive Season.

At IMO, we are ever-conscious of the important role you play in helping us achieve safe, secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans - the goals that we, as the United Nations specialized agency charged with the regulation of international shipping and as a member of the global maritime community, have set ourselves.

And so, we will celebrate next year's World Maritime Day theme with much pride in your contribution to our objectives, to the facilitation of more than 90% of the world's trade, and to sustainable human development.

In so doing, we also seek to reassure you, at the "sharp end" of the industry, that we, who are responsible for the international regulatory regime and who serve shipping from ashore, do understand the extreme pressures that you face and that, as a result, we approach our own tasks with a genuine sympathy for the work that you carry out.

At the same time, we will seek to add impetus to the "Go to Sea!" campaign, which we launched to attract new entrants to the shipping industry and, in particular, to encourage young people to follow in your footsteps by becoming the seafarers of tomorrow. We launched that campaign in association with the International Labour Organization, the "Round Table" of shipping industry organizations (International Chamber of Shipping, International Shipping Federation, BIMCO, International Association of Independent Tanker Owners and International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners) and the International Transport Workers' Federation, all of whom will be joining us in celebrating the Year of the Seafarer.

Last, but mostly importantly, we want to convey to you a clear message that the entire shipping community understands and cares for you - as shown by the efforts we make to ensure that you are fairly treated when ships on which you serve become involved in accidents; are looked after when you are abandoned in ports; are not refused shore leave for security purposes; are protected when your work takes you into piracy-infested areas; and are not left unaided when you are in distress at sea.

1.5 million seafarers serving the daily needs of more then 6.5 billion citizens of the world! It is a fact that goes unnoticed or is taken for granted by most, but one that should be trumpeted loud and clear. For seafarers the world over deserve our respect, recognition and gratitude and, during 2010, we at IMO are resolved to ensure that the world does take notice of your exceptional role and contribution and of the special debt that all of us owe to you. We thank you for that!

Lost buoys

The Brixham boys are in town again.....> as is plain to see......

with their 3m gear for working that little closer to shore......

means they are wont to pick up all kinds of flotsam.......

the net drums on the stern make handy storage for spare trawls and cod ends......

Seafayre Cuisine are in the market.....

as is Ocean Fish adding to their sole collection......

while the ever lighter mornings brighten proceedings......

as does Newlyn Harbour designs and their rainbow collection.

Shooting the seine at Sennen.

With a little help from Google a surprising number of results turned up with regard to the Sennen boys and their endeavour to fish for mullet in quantity using a beach seine - it seems that many ashore take a dim view of what they see as mass slaughter on the beach!

The first article appears courtesy of an angling forum where many of the forum's followers see catching such a large shoal of fish as a henious crime given many of their comments.

Another forum, this time showing the same technique used in Port Erin on the Isle of Man that engendered similar reactions.

The third, an article taken from an American paper, reports a tale of village rivalry and dates back to January 1960. Apparently the boys from Par had also heard that there were huge shoals of mullet in Whitsand Bay and headed down to Sennen armed with the necessary beach seine and a boat. The story was also covered by a national daily here - sensationalised to some extent because of a slight misunderstanding twixt a certain Sennen fisherman and the paper's reporter, whom during the course of an interview held on the beach looking out to sea and the gulls diving on the fish asked what was to happen next, "Well, we'll be shooting soon" was the reply - little did the reporter know of fishing terminology of course as he sped away to the nearest phone box to telephone the editor and announce that war was about to break out and that the rival fishermen were about to start shooting one another!

Fishermen's Friends find fame and maybe fortune!

The singing boys at Port Wenn (better known as Port Isaac) have finally hit the big time after being signed by Universal, the same record company that has Lady Gaga, Take That and Amy Winehouse on their books.

The Fishermen's Friends have entertained summer visitors of an evening for many years singing a mix of sea shanties and Cornish songs to net thousands of pounds for charities including the RNLI. They already have a website of their own to promote two CDs that they produced themselves.

Across the water it would be time for a pint today!

Skateboarding seems to bring out the philosopher in those that use the ramp on the prom......

with Gothic overtones perhaps.....

the local rag has lent its support to the Newlyn Archive Group's work.....

shades of green(ish).......

on St Patrick's Day with a few Irish boats due later......

plenty of kit on the port side of the Govenek of Ladram's wheelhouse.....

not often all three in the Rowse fleet are tied up together......

a lesson in 3m gear rigging.

Pot man imortalised in charcoal.

Dick Ede - One of the country's few traditional withy pot makers

One of the many charcoal drawings that will be shown in an exhibition at the Tolcarne Inn, Newlyn next month by local artist Nick Henshall.

Born August 1968, Nick was raised in land locked Cheshire. His appetite for the ocean life was firmly cemented during childhood holidays lobster fishing in Anglesey. After studying art at North Cheshire College, nineteen year old Nick moved to Newlyn, Cornwall working as a fisherman on a variety of vessels – including crabbers, netters, trawlers and inshore boats. He continued to develop his art work, studying life drawing and selling pictures throughout the 1990s, mainly through the Penzance Gallery (Tony Sanders).

In 1994, Nick gained his Class II deck officer qualification with plans to further his fishing career. Unfortunately, a motorcycle accident left him seriously injured, and a forced change of direction took Nick to working on traditional square riggers, acting as first mate on a replica 19th century schooner. Nick returned to Newlyn to start and raise a family. Unable to pursue his offshore fishing career, he worked as a boat builder, a welder, as mate and relief skipper on a local commercial dive vessel, and fished his own inshore lobster boat. In 2009, he began to learn the dying art of withy lobster and crab pot making, one of the inspirations for his recent return to his artistic background.

The rich tapestry of Nick’s life in Newlyn has added a depth of knowledge and understanding that those merely acting as bystanders are rarely privy to. His art work is inspired by the fishermen, boats and people of Newlyn with whom he has a genuine personal relationship and history.

E-tracking for 15m vessels coming next year.

With all vessels in the EU over 24m now running e-tracking attention will turn to the same system being made compulsory aboard vessels over 15m in 2011. Inevitably it seems, with the world's largest fishing fleet to monitor, a Spanish company won the first contract to supply a system in EU vessels. London based INMARSAT supply the satellite etchnology that provides the tracking signal which leaves owners free to choose the hardware to have aboard the boat.

CEFAS tender applications deadline April 2010.

Just a reminder to fishermen in the South and West that five tenders have been published under the Fisheries Science Partnership:

• FSP Project: Square mesh panel trials on twin or multi rig working inshore grounds: North Thames estuary: FSP 2010-11 (17)
• FSP Project: Sardine and anchovy survey off South West England: FSP 2010-11 (18)
• FSP Project: Bristol Channel 100mm cod end trials: FSP 2010-11 (19)
• FSP Project: Red mullet gill net fishery discard reduction: FSP 2010-11 (20)
• FSP Project: Modified commercial trawl survey: FSP 2010-11 (21)

The deails of each tender can be read or downloaded from this page.

Look out there's a trojan about!

Big trip of monk tails and megs for the St Georges.....

one of the few cod that made it to market get sized up......

more like close encounters.......

ummh, wrong fish Edwin......

red sails in the sunrise......

as the Girl Pamela makes her way to the gaps.....

it seems that Nathan Marshall is the Govenek of Ladram......

hazardous waste the gulls can't resist.....

starboard side view of the fleet's latest acquisition.......

ahead of the small tug, Trojan.

St Piran's Day celebration arrives dreckly!

Owing to a technical glitch, the gallery of images to celebrate St Piran's Day never made it to the site last weekend. All is now running smoothly and the images can be seen in the original post here.