With relentless claims that Westcountry fish stocks are at dangerously low levels, beam trawler skippers at Newlyn may paint a different picture, three having broken the port record in the same number of days.
Each landed "well over" 400 boxes of fish and cuttlefish, each, having sailed between Boxing Day and 28 December.
All three boats are owned by W Stevenson & Sons and represent the working core of the biggest trawler firm in England and Wales, which has set and broken port records for more than 50 years.
On January 3 Skipper George Stevens and his team of crewmen brought the beam trawler Twilight III back to port carrying 420 boxes of fish and cuttlefish; and prices simply rocketed at the Tuesday auction making £51,648.21p. Newlyn fish merchants now rely on beam trawler fish, as most other types of boat based at the port have either been scrapped or now over-land their fish to other outlets.
But Skipper Stevens' impressive figure tumbled the following day, when Skipper Don Liddicoat and his crewmen landed 460 boxes from the Filadelfia. His catch faced an equally hungry market on Wednesday with buyers paying even higher prices on some species, bringing the total sum to £52,377.40p.
And last Thursday Skipper Peter Elsworth and his crewmen on The Cornishman waited patiently to see their 440 boxes of fish and cuttlefish auctioned, buyers yet again grabbing that run of top qual ity fish making a staggering £52,802.20p.
However, on Thursday afternoon the Resurgam had arrived to offload its catch, with eight more boats still due to land, each of those skippers being eager to try to break the port record.
While the figures are impressive, so is the determination of all beam trawlermen at Newlyn to ensure the port's survival.
Newlyn Harbour Master, Andrew Munson, told the Western Morning News: "Basically if we didn't have the beaming fleet at Newlyn there wouldn't be much fish on the market, over the last month and longer those boats, mostly but not only the WS&S boats, have kept the port going.
"Records like that are impressive, it's good for the port, and it's good for West Cornwall, come-on, we have a great fishing industry here, our men are working some of the finest grounds, let's feel proud of our fishermen, there are far too many people putting down Newlyn as a port."
Billy Stevenson, a member of WS&S, told how over the decades Newlyn's port records have been made then broken, and recalls one set "20 years or so ago" when the WS&S beamer Aaltje Adriaantje skippered by Peter Neale brought back just short of £50,000 worth of fish, a record that remained for many years after until broken in January 2009 by Skipper Billy Worth and the crew of St Georges with £50,458.20. "But that was different, it was all high priced fish, no cuttlefish," he said.
Paul Trebilcock, leader of Cornwall Fish Producers Organisation, said: "It's been a fantastic start to 2011 for the Newlyn beam trawlers. They have faced a lot of challenges in recent years, high fuel prices, quota restrictions and adverse attention from the green lobby. But through their own efforts, working with scientists to improve stock assessments through the Fisheries Science Partnership, addressing green concerns through gear modification and education of those who don't understand beam trawling they have come through those challenges."