NEWLYN HARBOUR increased the value of its landings by £1.5 million last year, making it England's second most lucrative port.
According to Marine Management Organisation statistics Newlyn only sits behind Brixham, which had £18 million worth of landings in 2010.
In 2009 the port landed £16.5 million worth of fish and, in the same period, increased its quantity from 8,400 to 8,600 tonnes.
Newlyn fisherman Dave Stevens attributed the rise to increased stocks and landing fish in foreign markets.
He said: "There has been an improvement which has been experienced by everybody. We have all caught our quotas quickly and stocks are on the rise. The difficult part is the quotas."
The statistics also showed that, although the number of vessels decreased from 630 to 619 last year, the amount of Newlyn fishermen rose from 711 to 898.
Mr Stevens said. "We have taken on more crew. We've been able to employ more people. While the stocks are increasing fishing is becoming more comfortable. It's a good news story."
In total, fish worth more than £60 million was landed at West Country ports last year – up almost £10 million on 2009. More than 43,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish were landed at the eight main ports in Devon and Cornwall – up by almost 5,000 tonnes.
Plymouth remains the port with the largest quantity of landings in England, with 14,300 tonnes, although Brixham, where more valuable fish and shellfish are landed, had the highest value in 2010 of £21.7 million.
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN