Tag Archives: United Kingdom
Big fines for boat operators illegally fishing off Yorkshire coast
Magistrates heard boats from Oban in Scotland and Torquay in Devon repeatedly broke rules designed to protect the scallop fishery off the coast near Robin Hood’s Bay during a four-month period in 2019. John MacAlister, owner of the Star of Annan OB 50, and master of the vessel Alec Murray both appeared at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court having admitted the offences at a previous hearing. The court heard how the offences included operating in a closed season, using scallop dredges, failing to operate a fully-functioning vessel identification system as well as landing undersized scallops. >click to read< 17:56
Frustration as F/V Pesorsa Dos returns to local fishing grounds
Local fishermen are up in arms after the German registered gill-netter F/V Pesorsa Dos reappeared in the waters to the west of Shetland. Last year, the Spanish owned vessel was in the centre of a huge controversy after the crew of the Alison Kay (LK57) posted a video that appeared to show the gill netter trying to foul the local trawler’s propeller. Following Brexit and the “hugely disappointing” trade deal, the UK has become an independent coastal state, but EU vessels continue to have full access to UK waters until 2026. >click to read< 18:26
Meeting produces no solution for fishermen’s Brexit related fishing issues
Environment Minister John Young said following the discussions that he and his fellow ministers would continue to work with the industry, with another meeting due to take place before Easter.,, ‘The meeting welcomed the open and constructive discussions between ministers, officials and the local fisheries industry, and while a comprehensive solution was not reached, ‘It was a complete waste of time and a tick-box exercise to allow them to say they are engaging with industry. There was mention of financial support in three phases but it was read out “this is phase one, two, three. OK – let’s move on” and that was it,’ >click to read< 08:30
Fishing into the Future
Fishing into the Future (FITF), an independent UK charity led by people working in the fishing industry, has formed a partnership with the Fishmongers’ Company. The partnership includes a substantial grant to implement a three-year work programme that builds on their innovative learning and leadership initiative. Fishing into the Future’s Chairman, Dave Stevens, owner and skipper of the demersal trawler, Crystal Sea SS 118, remarks on the importance of charity’s work and the benefit the support from The Fishmongers’ Company will bring, >click to read< 12:36
Brexit trade deal leaves Welsh fishermen ‘devastated’
New rules to replace the EU Common Fisheries Policy mean 76 French and Belgian trawlers can fish within six miles of the Welsh coast until 2026. It means many Welsh fishermen may struggle to survive, the Welsh Fishermen’s Association said. The UK government said it protected fishermen’s rights. But those working in Wales said they were already struggling with export red tape. Barry Thomas, who voted for Brexit, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson “bottled” the deal “at the last minute”, after promising to keep foreign trawlers outside the UK’s 12-mile limit. >click to read< 08:40
Roy ‘Admiral’ Waller tributes as king of Hull trawler skippers dies aged 90, went to sea at age15
Tributes have been paid to Roy Waller, one of the giants of Hull’s post-war fishing industry, who has died following a short illness aged 90. He was a trawler skipper for 40 years, eventually retiring in 1995. During his career at sea, he twice won the prestigious Silver Cod Trophy awarded annually by the British Trawler Federation to the skipper, crew and vessel landing the greatest quantity of fish within the year. He became a skipper at the age of 25, having started out as a deckie learner. He was one of the youngest ever skippers. “In the 1970s, he was even given the nickname of ‘The Admiral’ because that’s how everyone saw him. He was hugely respected in the industry.” >click to read< 07:22
Troll leaves family of missing fisherman ‘disgusted’ after claiming to have shot at boat
A troll phoned the family of a missing fisherman to claim he had “shot” the boat he was aboard. Carl McGrath, Steve Minard and Ross Ballantine disappeared after heading out to sea from Conwy on Wednesday, with major searches for the men and the boat they were on so far drawing a blank. Mr McGrath’s sister Lauren Hynes, and her partner Jake Cox, had posted their phone numbers online so anybody with information could quickly get in touch. In the post, which he asked people to share, he said he was phoned on Sunday evening by a “young lad” stating he had information regarding the boat. >click to read< 07:47
Trawler firm says one-off trip is ‘sticking plaster’ as UK-Norway deal is needed
On Wednesday, Kirkella left Hull for a trip to the icy waters around the island of Svalbard which the vessel’s owner, UK Fisheries, has described as a “sticking plaster”. UK Fisheries says its licence means the number of fish it can catch will only allow this one trip. But this is about 10% of what it would have been allowed under the pre-Brexit regime. UK Fisheries chief executive Jane Sandell said: “We’re glad to be going out fishing at last, but this is only a sticking plaster. “Kirkella will be out for a few weeks but then, unless something changes very soon, we’ll have no more work for our crews for the foreseeable future.” >click to read< 11:38
New Whitby lobster boat launches on choppy post-Brexit waters
“Our Henry” is owned by business partners Terry Pearson and Luke Russell. Mr Pearson is the merchant for the local shellfishing fleet, while Mr Russell will skipper the catamaran, the first new boat to join the Whitby fleet for a decade, along with two other crew and a trainee. Delivered a couple of weeks ago the potter has been undergoing sea trials, but should make its first fishing trip later this week. “Then with Covid, the build was delayed, and it has only just arrived when we are in the middle of the winter fishery, “Then of course there has been Brexit,,, >click to read< 16:31
Made In Macduff
Adam Tait and his sons Adam and Jonathan went back to Macduff Shipyards for a new F/V Jacqueline Anne, replacing a trawler delivered by the same yard in 2013, with the new trawler built to the yard’s latest design. Built to fish around Scotland but mainly on North Sea grounds, Jacqueline Anne has been built using the same hull from as F/V Crystal Sea, which Macduff delivered in early 2020 to the Stevens family in Newlyn. The 24.50 metre LAO, 7.60 metre breadth design is an evolution of the yard’s older 24 metre design, with modifications made to reduce hull resistance and improve fuel efficiency. photos, >click to read< 15:48
Scottish seafood left to rot with exports tangled in Brexit bureaucracy, exports could grind to a halt
The Scottish Seafood Association said exports to the EU are being hindered by “red tape” delays in Scotland and France. It claims as many as 25 trucks were backlogged for clearance due to IT problems in Boulogne on Tuesday. Jimmy Buchan, chief executive of the Scottish Seafood Association, said: “Trucks laden with fresh seafood are being held up in central Scotland due to problems with customs barcodes and lack of veterinary service capacity. >click to read< 12:25
Boris Johnson’s Brexit Deal Under Fire From British Fishermen, More
Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiations are being heavily criticised by UK fishermen who are faced with the possibility of going out of business, thanks to the terms of the Brexit fishing deal,,, >click to read<
Fishermen brand Brexit trade deal a ‘betrayal’ – new year may not bring the hoped for Brexit bounty for Scottish fishermen as industry leaders 
express their misgivings. >click to read<
EU crumbles as Irish fishermen turn on allies. ‘Macron got what HE wanted!’ – Irish fishermen have turned on their European allies over their English Channel access and quota allowances, arguing France got what they demanded in the post-Brexit trade deal with the UK. >click to read< 17:00
In nearly 50 years as a fisherman Arnold Locker has seen it all – ‘crews will be worse off in 2021 than before they left the EU’
The outcome of the Brexit trade deal has left him and many others bitterly disappointed. Mr Locker, chairman of Locker Trawlers in Whitby, and former chairman of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, believes Environment Secretary George Eustice should resign. He says this time the betrayal of fishing communities is worse, because politicians like Mr Eustice, Michael Gove and Prime Minister Boris Johnson “knew exactly what they were doing when they devastated coastal communities.”>click to read< 11:43
Brexit: What does the trade deal mean for fisheries? All the Fish related bits in the Brexit deal to read at your leisure: Articles 1-19
Contrary to many dire predictions, we finally have a Brexit trade deal, and with it an agreement on how the UK and EU will manage shared fisheries into the future. The fishing industry has experienced an unusually high profile since the Brexit referendum, but this reached dizzy heights over the last few months of 2020, as disagreements over fishing quotas and access were said to be the final barrier to a wider agreement. So now that the deal has been landed, how does the catch measure up? >click to read< All the Fish related bits in the Brexit deal to read at your leisure: Articles 1-19. – Article FISH.1: Sovereign rights of coastal States exercised by the Parties. The Parties affirm that sovereign rights of coastal States exercised by the Parties for the purpose of exploring, exploiting,,, >click to read< 08:40
Arbroath RNLI: The lifeboat heroes who give up their Christmas to save lives
Sam Clow will tuck into his Christmas dinner alongside his young family with his pager beside his festive fayre. Arbroath RNLI full-time coxswain/mechanic and his volunteer crew will drop everything at a moment’s notice if the pager goes off. Giving up their time to help save lives at sea is a tradition which runs through all 238 RNLI stations, whether it be mums and sons, or dads and daughters. Sam said the drill is the same for the crew all year round. “We remain on call 24/7 over Christmas and that’s the reality of the job,” he said. >click to read< 14:46
If Brexit is to mean anything we must end fraud of EU fishing boats registering as British
Last week, with surprisingly little fanfare given the years of high-profile politicking over our territorial waters, the Fisheries Bill was written into UK Law. The long awaited Bill slipped quietly into legislation,,, The fact that the fishing industry was the first industry to be sold out by Labour and Conservative governments as we entered the European Economic Community means, I firmly believe, it must be the first industry to be returned to the status demanded by full sovereignty. I watched hours of debate, as the Bill passed through the commons onto the House of Lords, in which more attention was given to marine conservation and sustainability than to how this bill will affect the United Kingdom’s fishing industry and coastal communities. >click to read< 15:25
Lights will shine around the world for lost Brixham fishermen
The mothers of the two fishermen lost at sea have both welcomed calls for a plaque to be erected to their sons on the beautiful Man and Boy statue on Brixham harbour. And fishing communities around the world will be shining lights in a mass event on December 5 in memory of Adam Harper and Robert Morley, lost when the Joanna C capsized. A plan to turn out all the lights in a two minute silence was called off after Adam’s mother revealed that her son was afraid of the dark and asked people to shine a light instead in his honour. On Saturday December 5 at 6.14pm – to mirror the time of Saturday morning’s 6.14am distress call – people in Brixham are being asked to shine lights into the air in tribute. >click to read< 09:23
Flagship Fisheries Bill, The Fisheries Act 2020, becomes law
Yesterday the UK’s first major domestic fisheries legislation in nearly 40 years passed into law. The Fisheries Act 2020 gives the UK full control of its fishing waters for the first time since 1973. The Fisheries Act will enable the UK to control who fishes in our waters through a new foreign vessel licencing regime and ends the current automatic rights for EU vessels to fish in UK waters. Underpinning everything in the Act is a commitment to sustainability, ensuring healthy seas for future generations of fishermen. >click to read< 08:24
F/V Joanna C: Search for two missing Brixham fishermen is called off
HM Coastguard has confirmed that the search operation was called off this afternoon, November 22, at 2.30pm. The search began at 6am on November 21, when HM Coastguard received an EPIRB alert located three nautical miles off the coast at Seaford near Newhaven, from the EPIRB (emergency beacon) from the vessel. No further official information has been provided about the missing men who were on a 45 foot scalloping vessel, Joanna C sank when it sank off Newhaven in East Sussex yesterday. >click to read< 07:27 Former fisherman Tony Rowe, 40, of Brixham, was shocked to not only hear of the news but to discover the boat was one has previously owned, and has started a gofundme page, >click to donate< Prayers and wishes pour in for Brixham fishermen – >click to read<, Two day search for two fisherman missing at sea is called off after their ‘scallop wars’ boat sank off the Sussex coast – >click to read<
Distraught mum of missing ‘scallop wars’ fisherman desperate ‘for sea to give him back’ after ‘freak wave’ sank boat
HM Coastguard vessels, helicopters and RNLI lifeboats were scrambled around 6am after the F/V Joanna C sent an EPIRB alert,,, Huge searches have launched again today in a bid to find Mr. Morley and Adam Harper, 26. It’s claimed that Mr. Harper stayed with the stricken boat because he can’t swim. A third man, skipper Dave Bickerstaff, 34, was rescued from the water off East Sussex after the 45ft scallop vessel overturned. He was found holding onto a lifebuoy almost four hours after the tragedy off the coast of Seaford, near Newhaven. Mr Morley’s devastated mum Jackie Woolford says her son is believed to have lost hold of a safety ring he’d been clinging to with his friend.,,, The Joanna C was previously involved in the scallop wars, a long-standing dispute between Brit and French fishermen. >photos, video, Click to read< 15:45
Search for missing fishermen off Sussex coast resumes
A major rescue effort began off Seaford, near Newhaven, on Saturday when the coastguard received an emergency alert at about 06:00 GMT. One crew member was found clinging to a buoy and taken to hospital. Two crew members from the boat, the Joanna C, remain missing. The search for them was suspended at 23:00 and resumed at first light this morning. The emergency signal put the 45ft scalloping vessel, registered in Brixham, about three nautical miles off the coast. Throughout Saturday a number of vessels, including local fishing boats, took part in the search. >click to read< 06:45
EPIRB Alert: One fisherman rescued as frantic search for two fishermen is underway after boat sinks off Newhaven
Fishing boat Joanna C sank at about 6am this morning off Newhaven in East Sussex with three crew members on board. One man was rescued from the water by Newhaven lifeboat after he was found clinging to a lifebuoy. He has been transferred to hospital for treatment. However the search continues across the south coast for the two other missing fishermen. The search began at 6am this morning, when HM Coastguard received an EPIRB alert located three nautical miles off the coast at Seaford near Newhaven, from the vessel’s emergency beacon. The>fishing vessel Joanna C is a 45 foot scalloping vessel< registered in Brixham and three people were on board at the time of the sinking. >click to read< 07:08
Restore the oyster dredger Vanguard! Plea to help fund restoration of Essex boat used at Dunkirk
The Vanguard Restoration Foundation hopes to restore the oyster dredger Vanguard by securing the vital £500,000 needed to have it rebuilt. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the group hopes the boat, now residing in Burnham, will get a fresh boost of Dunkirk spirit. The aim is to get her ready for a return to Dunkirk in June 2025 to take part in celebrations marking the 85th anniversary. >photos, click to read< 13:35
The last original Fisherman of Leigh has died at the age of 93
Ken Dolby was born in Leigh in 1927, and fished in his boat Britannia 2, LO199 for the greater part of his life. He was a member of a well-established fishing family of the same name, which has plied their trade in the Thames waters from Leigh for over 300 years. Wendy Noakes, his daughter, explains: “Our first known relative was Samuel Dolby, born in Leigh in 1797, and records show his son, Samuel born in 1821 was also a fisherman.” After that, each generation of Dolbys fished, leading to Ken’s father’s Alfred Moore Dolby, who was born in a cottage behind what was the original Bell Hotel. Ken Dolby was born in 22 Leigh Ville Grove, and started out on the boats with his father when he was 14. >click to read< 10:04
Fishing boat sinks after collision with cargo ship off Tynemouth coast
At 3.40pm on Sunday, the skipper of a 9.9m North Shields -based trawler made a distress call after a collision with a 1,700-tonne 81m cargo ship that had recently sailed from Blyth. The fishing vessel was badly damaged and started taking on water, leading to flooding in the engine room. UK Coastguard’s Humber Operations Centre called Tynemouth RNLI and it’s all-weather lifeboat went to the aid of the fishing boat and her two crew. A number of other nearby vessels also responded to the distress call, notably the offshore support vessel Ocean Marlin which launched a boat in case the fishermen needed immediate evacuation. >click to read< 17:56
Number One? Bridlington could officially become the Lobster Capital of Europe
Moves are underway to officially promote Bridlington as the Lobster Capital of Europe. Academics believe the resort could attract thousands of new visitors by making the most of its unique lobster fishery. They say adopting marketing techniques used by similar American and Canadian fishing ports could put Bridlington on the global tourism map with more festivals and merchandising. And they want cafes and restaurants in the town to start putting lobster landed in Bridlington Harbour on the menu. For none of the 300 tonnes of shellfish currently landed there every year is actually available to eat locally. >click to read< 14:48
Newlyn Fishermen fear for their future as Coronavirus threatens a second wave
David Stevens, who owns the Crystal Sea trawler which operates out of Newlyn, said: “We’re free market, we don’t have a fixed price for fish. “That all depends on distribution, and if we can’t distribute that fish your market will decline. The entire industry will suffer huge losses until we’re out of lockdown situations once again.” Mr Stevens says some skippers may be forced to tie their boats up for the winter. “We’re going to have to reduce the supply to keep the fish price up. But with the restaurant trade closing down around the country, we’re going to lose 30 per cent of our market price.” >click to read< 10:25
Stolen memorial plaque honouring Hull’s 6,000 lost fishermen is returned
There was outrage among Hull’s fishing community after mindless thieves stole the plaque from the Bullnose on St Andrew’s Quay. The area is the last point families could stand to say farewell as fishermen sailed out to the dangerous grounds around Iceland, Greenland and Russia. “The Bullnose means so much to so many people. It is an iconic and sacred place. It is where people saw their fathers, brothers or sons for the last time.” >click to read< 11:28
Report raises concerns over crabbing in Cromer – ‘Fishermen are seriously worried’
The Cromer Shoal Chalk Bed, located off the coast between Weybourne and Happisborough was designated a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) in 2016. Since the MCZ was created, Natural England has been investigating the health of the chalk bed and effect of potting -the method of using pots to fishing for crabs and lobsters- on it. John Davies, head of the North Norfolk Fisherman’s society,, “Right from the beginning of the MCZ project, they have said potting does no damage to the chalk and how important it is and we were happy doing what we were doing. “[The advice] has come as a bit of a shock and there’s an awful lot of fishermen seriously worried about where we go from here.” >click to read< 16:13
Brexit May Be Too Late to Save Britain’s Fishermen
Derek Reader coats the deck of his 40-foot fishing boat in salt-resistant paint ahead of another punishing winter hunting plaice, turbot and cod in the Irish Sea. He hopes it will be his last season. The U.K. has made regaining control of its fishing grounds a central demand in protracted and fraught talks on a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union. Yet the last trawlerman in the English port of Fleetwood, which once boasted 120 vessels like his, plans to sell the MFV Albion and quit the industry. “I voted for Brexit and I hope that we do take back our waters, but it’s too late for Fleetwood,” said Reader, 60. “If a new fishing deal helps me get a better price that’s great, but I can’t make ends,,, >click to read< 09:39
