Tag Archives: England
Dead crabs probe: Tees marine expert ‘99.9% sure dredging unearthing historical toxins to blame
A Teesside marine expert who has been following the probe into why piles of dead crustaceans washed up on Teesside’s beaches remains ‘99.9% sure’ dredging is to blame. David McCreadie, a retired senior lecturer in marine biology and oceanography, says he spotted a vessel dredging off Teesmouth at the end of September and then started to find dead lobsters and crabs on the South Gare near Redcar. The investigating authorities have already ruled out dredging,,, >click to read< 08:19
Lillian Bilocca: Plaque for woman who revolutionised safety at sea
A plaque has been unveiled for a woman who helped revolutionise safety at sea and is credited with saving many lives. The memorial has been placed on the wall at the former home of Lillian Bilocca, in Coltman Street, Hull. Led by Big Lil, as she was known, a group of four redoubtable women pressed for law changes after a 1968 trawler disaster. The disaster in 1968 saw 58 men perish after three Hull vessels were lost. In the face of strong opposition Bilocca, Christine Jensen, Mary Denness and Yvonne Blenkinsop, the four women later dubbed the “Headscarf Revolutionaries”, are estimated to have saved thousands of lives through their safety campaign. >click to read< 22:04
Catch-App: “Government are going to make us criminals,” fear English fishermen
English fishermen are deeply concerned that new regulations regarding the enforcement of Catch-App will turn them into criminals. Fishermen across England are deeply concerned as the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) the Government’s fishing regulator in England, sets the date of 28 February 2022 for the enforcement stage of the Catch-App which could leave them facing prosecutions they cannot avoid. Leading fisheries solicitor Andrew Oliver, partner of Hull based firm Andrew Jackson questioned the legal implications of the regulations. “This is a clear breach of human rights. It is against public law principles to create a criminal offence for which it is impossible to comply with. >click to read< 07:06
Fishermen scared for livelihoods as sea creatures disappear from Yorkshire coast
Fishermen across Yorkshire fear they could be forced out of business after masses of dead sea creatures have been washed up on the shoreline. Robert Harrison, from Filey in North Yorkshire, said he is scared for their livelihoods amid claims there “isn’t a living thing” within three miles of the coast. Dead crabs and rotting lobsters were littered across the coastline between Marske and Saltburn in October but now fishermen in Filey are experiencing a similar issue. >click to read here< and >here< 07:40
Looking Back: Life on board the Hull Trawler Ross Orion
We look back through a collection of images taken on board a Hull trawler named Ross Orion. They were taken just months before the horrific triple trawler tragedy that claimed the lives of 58 crew members on three other vessels. A photographer captured life on board another Hull trawler less than a year before the disasters. The Ross Orion set sail for Greenland from Hull’s docks and the photos were snapped on 15 July 1967 just off the coast. 11 photos, >click to read< 07:52
Families gather to remember Hull’s lost fishermen in memorial service for 1968 trawler tragedy
Three trawlers from the city sank within four weeks of one other. A total of 58 men lost their lives, leaving a scar on the city which is still being felt more than fifty years later. An annual Lost Trawlermen’s Day service is carried out on Hessle Road, where most of the fishing community lived during the time of the accidents. On the 18th of January, the St Romanus failed to return to Hull. All 20 crew members were lost at sea. On the 26th of January, the second trawler, the Kingston Peridot, was lost, along with its 20 men. On the 4th of February, the third trawler, Ross Cleveland was lost at sea, with 18 members of crew. One man, Harry Eddom, survived. video, >click to read< 20:23
Looe-based fisherman’s tweet about dead bass sparks debate over rules
A fisherman’s tweet over a large haul of Bass fish off the Plymouth coast has sparked debate over the current rules on fishing. Andrew Giles took to Twitter with a shocking video which displayed a large haul of fish caught by accident by a trawler, all of which had to be thrown away again. Andrew, who owns the trawler, MFV Guiding Light, wrote: “Just crazy. This could have given the boys a much-needed lift after a very hard winter.” The issue highlighted not just issues regarding commercial rules to protect fish stocks, but also the ongoing thorny issue of Brexit and the British fishing industry as well as food poverty. video,>click to read< 07:35
Fisherman Stan Bagwell – a tribute to ‘one of Sidmouth’s characters’
Stan was the son of Robert and Martha Bagwell, his father and grandfather were local fishermen. Stan was no scholar, he spent all of his free time with his father at Ladram Bay where his father fished and was coastguard during the war. He cycled up Peak Hill early mornings and after school. Sometimes he travelled on his father’s motorbike next to the crab bait. At 15 he bought his first 12ft clinker built rowing boat, this leaked badly so he spent many hours repairing it. Stan’s ambition to have a trawler working out of Brixham was realized in 1972. >click to read< 21:42
The Cromer crab is a Norfolk staple – but does it have feelings?
According to a report by the London School of Economics, there is strong scientific evidence to suggest crabs do feel and that they should be treated more humanely. The government’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, currently passing through parliament, is set to recognise crabs, lobsters and octopuses as ‘sentient beings’. Fisherman Mr Lee said the report’s suggestion that lobsters should not be boiled was “a total bloody nonsense”. Sue Riseborough, who served as Wells-next-the-Sea’s first and last gillying warden from 2016 to 2019, the recognition of crabs’ sentience is “brilliant” and “can’t be ignored”. >click to read< 08:55
UK Fishing Industry Statistics
The fishing industry of the UK was progressing quite successfully, but within the last few years, there has been a decline in the number of workers and overall landings by the fishermen. This can be due to many reasons such as the environmental problems that affect the breeding of the fishes, excessive fishing, the tough lifestyle of fishermen with the many risks involved, change of tastes and preferences of the consumers, etc. The following stats depict the same in terms of numbers. >click to read< 12:59
Arctic Corsair: Hull trawler dry-docked ahead of restoration
Arctic Corsair, Hull’s last sidewinder trawler, is to be repaired as part of the city’s £30m maritime regeneration project. The vessel has been put in dry dock after being towed from its previous berth in Alexandra Dock to Dunston’s shipyard at William Wright Dock. Restoration work on the 61-year-old trawler will take about 12 months. photos, >click to read< – Arctic Corsair high and dry for the first time in three decades – And as these photographs show, her hull will also be clearly visible to visitors with plans for them to see her up close in the dry dock itself as well as being able to go onboard. >click to read< -08:54
UK inquest finds submarine did not cause 2004 sinking of French trawler
The judge Nigel Lickley QC, who has overseen an inquest on the tragedy, ruled that the French trawler F/V Bugaled Breizh sank after its fishing gear snagged on the seabed, causing it to heel – tip to one side – and take in water. Relatives of the men lost in the tragedy have long believed the boat sank after a submarine became tangled in its fishing gear, and they saw the inquest in London as a last chance to get to what they believe is the truth. The judge said he believed that the sinking, on 15 January 2004, was a fishing accident. >click to read< 22:15
Results of probe into French trawler tragedy due in weeks
The conclusions of a British inquest into the 2004 sinking of a French trawler, which killed five people, will be delivered on November 5, the coroner said on Thursday. Judge Nigel Lickley has been hearing evidence since early October about how the Bugaled Breizh sank suddenly off Cornwall, southwest England, despite good weather. The bodies of two of the fishermen who died were recovered by British search and rescue teams. Lawyers for the victims’ families maintain that a submarine on exercises in the area at the time could have struck the boat and pulled it down. >click to read< 14:25
Inquest into Bugaled Breizh deaths sunk off Lizard coast of Cornwall
The Bugaled Breizh went down on January 15, 2004 off the Lizard Peninsula in favourable conditions, with no apparent defects to the vessel. The possibility a submarine may have become entangled in the trawling gear and dragged the vessel under has been proposed since it sank. But an inquest at the High Court heard on Thursday that the system of wires, chains, weights and nets that made up the trawling rig was found relatively intact on the seabed. >click to read< 08:44
Inquest: No evidence British submarine sank French trawler in 2004
Ever since the boat sank, the families of the sailors have demanded a proper investigation into the men’s deaths. They have maintained over the years that the sinking could have been caused by a submarine becoming caught in the ship’s nets, something the Ministry of Defence has denied. The inquest heard on Wednesday that the Royal Navy Police Special Investigation Branch (RNPSIB) would not have been blocked from investigating the potential involvement of British combat vessels. >click to read< 07:51
UK sub ‘not involved’ in 2004 French trawler tragedy
A British military submarine linked to the sinking of a French fishing trawler nearly 18 years ago had nothing to do with the incident, the UK vessel’s former captain said Tuesday, sparking fury from victims’ relatives. The families of the five crew members who died on the Bugaled Breizh on January 15, 2004 are hoping an inquest at the High Court in London will confirm their view that the boat was pulled down by the British submarine HMS Turbulent. But the Turbulent’s former commander Andrew Coles said the nuclear vessel was docked on the day of the tragedy. “We definitely weren’t involved,” he told the hearing in London, echoing other witness testimony at the hearing. >click to read< 16:17
Inquest into fatal trawler sinking off Cornwall hears about final distress call
On Tuesday, the skipper of the F/V Eridan, a fishing vessel operating just a few miles from F/V Bugaled Breizh on the day it disappeared, told the court he had received a distress call at about 12.25pm. The court heard that the two vessels had moored at Newlyn Harbour from January 11 to 13 due to stormy weather, but that conditions had been favourable on the day F/V Bugaled Breizh went down. Giving evidence via video link and through an interpreter, Serge Cossec said: “The skipper (Yves Marie Gloaguen) said come quickly, we are capsizing. That was all. “He said it several times”. >click to read< 11:40
Bugaled Breizh – Why Thierry Lemétayer has been calling for the truth for 17 years
Thierry Lemétayer has been fighting for 17 years to find out the truth about the sinking of the Bugaled Breizh. The fight of a lifetime, for his father who, like four other crew members, perished at sea on January 15, 2004. From the investigation which opens in London on October 4, he hopes and expects a lot. “What France refused us, Great Britain gives us” says Thierry Lemétayer whose father, Georges, disappeared with four other crew members during the sinking of the Bugaled Breizh in 2004 “What France refused us, Great Britain gives us” says Thierry Lemétayer whose father, Georges, disappeared with four other crew members during the sinking of the Bugaled Breizh in 2004. >click to read< 07:57
Inquest into 2004 French fishing boat disaster opens in London
A coroner’s inquest opened in London this morning into the mysterious sinking of a French fishing trawler 17 years ago,,, On the 15 janvier 2004, F/V Bugaled Breizh (child of Brittany) sunk F/V Bugaled Breizh (child of Brittany), in the south west of England. “Come quickly, I’m sinking,” were the last words the captain said on his radio, in a bid to attract the help of another fishing boat which was located a few minutes away. By the time the other fishing boat arrived on the scene, the Bugaled Breizh had sunk with all five crew members on board,,, two main theories exist. One points to a fishing accident, with the boat being pulled down by its nets which got caught on something, or that of a submarine which got caught up in the boat’s cables and dragged the boat under. >click to read< 07:41
England’s biggest fish market at sunrise – Brixham Fish Market is truly the city that never sleeps
At the meek hour of 2am, boxes upon boxes of fish are being sliced, sorted, and shipped, generating thousands in revenue before the sun has begun to rise. The hours are gruelling with 4pm starts that don’t end until the next morning and some boats that land at Brixham spend seven days out at sea.,, “Brixham is a fish town. Tourists love to come here, they love to see the boats, they love to see the market. Despite being one of the worst-hit industries by Brexit and Covid, the market is currently experiencing a boom and earning figures of up to £800,000 in some weeks. 22 photos, >click to read< 09:00
Dennis Gaff – ‘Proud to be a Cromer fisherman’
Tributes have been paid to a stalwart of Cromer’s fishing scene, who has died at the age of 90. When Dennis Gaff, who was born in the town, was asked later in life about his many years harvesting the bounty of the seas, he said: “It was something I loved to do and I was proud to be a Cromer fisherman”. On leaving school, his father was keen for him to get a job in the building trade, but Mr Gaff made it clear that his future was to be a fisherman, and after a conversation with Henry ‘Shrimp’ Davies he embarked on a career that lasted a lifetime. >click to read< 07:55
Dunston’s will restore city’s historic Arctic Corsair and Spurn Lightship
A Hull-based ship repair firm has been appointed to restore two of the city’s most historic vessels. Dunston’s (Ship Repairs) Limited will carry out the work on the Arctic Corsair and the Spurn Lightship after being awarded a £4.78m contract by Hull City Council following a competitive tendering process. Based at William Wright Dock, the firm will now play a major role in the £30m Hull Maritime project which is being jointly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the council. It has been based in the city for over 100 years and normally carries out repairs, conversions, lengthening and maintenance on sea-going vessels. >click to read< 22:16
Whitby fisherman saved by “strength and determination” after dramatic rescue
A Whitby fisherman’s mental and physical strength saved his life after a dramatic rescue. The fisherman was pulled into the water by his fishing gear and sustained a broken arm after being in the water for some time. He was rescued by a nearby pleasure boat called the Summer Queen, who responded to a mayday call put out by another passenger on the fisherman’s boat. “The outcome to this could have been very different, I would like to praise the fisherman for his strength and determination keeping hold of his lobster pot end despite having substantial injuries. >click to read< 15:36
Fishing boat sinks after catching fire off the Hartlepool coast
Both Hartlepool RNLI lifeboats were paged at 10.26 am on Monday, August 9, following a request by Humber Coastguard after reports that flares had been fired from a boat off Hartlepool. Both Hartlepool RNLI boats launched at 10.35 am and were alongside the stricken vessel within a few minutes. On arrival at the scene, a lifeboat crew member from the inshore lifeboat was placed aboard the second fishing boat that had taken the skipper to provide casualty care although none was required. photos, >click to read< 10:11
Lobster wars: Norfolk fisherman says too many people cashing in, lobsters being overfished
A Norfolk fisherman with more than 40 years of experience has raised fears that the region’s shores are being overfished of lobsters. David Chambers said bad weather had recently affected lobster supplies. But Mr Chambers also blamed too many people coming into the industry and crowding the waters with their pots on the decline in lobster supplies and the hike in prices. It comes as the seabed from Weybourne to Happisburgh, off the Norfolk coast, was designated a Marine Conservation Zone in 2016.”There are an awful lot of pots and I know some people with big boats who are giving up because there’s too much gear out there, the younger fishermen have no respect, it’s just crazy. >click to read< 11:39
New build Amanda of Ladram in Newlyn.
Waterdance’s latest vessel to join their ever-expanding fleet is PW-6, the Amanda of Ladram, skippered by Jonathon Walsh. The largely Padstow based skipper and crew will operate mainly from Newlyn targeting mainly MSC Certified hake. the boat is currently fishing north of the Scillys, and, like all the vessels in the fleet she will overland her fish from Newlyn to be sold on the market at Brixham. >click to watch< a 9:46 video tour, and a 62 image photo gallery by Lawrence Hartwell, Through the Gaps 22:34
Amble man awarded silver medal in recognition of his service to the RNLI over half a century
Rodney Burge joined Amble lifeboat in 1969 after leaving the Royal Navy and he is still involved today as its press and media officer. “The award was totally unexpected,” said the 76-year-old,,, Born and brought up in Amble, he joined the Royal Navy as a teenager where he served as a submariner. He bought a trawler boat after leaving the services and enjoyed a long fishing career until retirement. >click to read< 16:11
Falmouth working boat in Carrick Roads vandalised at Penpol Feock
Erin Bastian said her father Mike had been working and living in the local community all his life. She explained that at the end of March the oyster fishing season comes to an end and over the summer the fishermen store their boats on public beaches,,, However, last night it appears to have been the victim of a vandalism attack. “My dad saved this year for a new boat, his pride and joy, an old wooden working boat. Many people will see them out on the water from October to March, working by hand, using sail power alone. “This week someone has callously damaged my dad’s boat by digging up his anchor, and unbolting one of his support legs. “I am mortified to see my dad’s livelihood vandalised. >photos, click to read< 15:57
MMO announce first panel dates for Fisheries and Seafood Scheme in England
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is pleased to confirm dates for the first English Fisheries and Seafood Scheme (FaSS) panel. The MMO is administering the new £6.1 million FaSS on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The fund includes support for business to adapt to new markets and respond to new trading conditions, improve safety on fishing vessels and onshore and to protect the environment – with funding available for equipment that reduces the impact of fishing on the marine environment, among other areas. More information can be found on their website. >click to read< 22:08
Pescado fishing boat which sank off Cornwall ‘was hit by submarine in cover-up’
Thirty years ago, a Plymouth-registered beam trawler left port for what was supposed to be a routine fishing trip. After having heard nothing from the Pescado since it departed, on February 25, 1991, a search began for the ship on March 5. The wreck of the Pescado was eventually found 13 miles off Dodman Point on the south coast of Cornwall. The official line remains from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) in 1998: the boat tilted, flooded and sank as a result of inexperienced crew and faulty equipment. But the ship’s owner, Alan Ayres, who passed away on June 22, 2020, aged 81, had for decades insisted that a collision with a British Navy submarine caused it to sink, and that there has been a cover-up. photos, >click to read< 13:30
