Following the acquisition earlier this year of a substantial stake in Iceland’s largest fishing and processing company, changes are taking place. Guðmundur Kristjánsson, who also owns fishing company Brim and stakes in a number of others, and who acquired the roughly 32% holding in HB Grandi, takes over as the new managing director.
The NFFO has taken the industry’s position to government, holding a lobby day in Parliament, pushing for fishing to remain a priority issue for the UK government as key stages in the UK/EU withdrawal negotiations approach.
Chantier Naval Croisicais have delivered a new trawler to Charles Jubé and Julien le Cleac’h, launched at the yard in Le Croisic and built to a Coprexma design.
One of HB Grandi’s new trawlers is on the way to Reykjavík, on the end of a towing hawser.
The delivery of a new coastal fishing vessel being built at Vestværft for owners in Norway has been put back from September this year to May 2019 due to an angry exchange of correspondence concerning the new vessel’s cargo volume.
The Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad has launched the third pelagic vessel in a series of three being constructed for the Lenin Fishing Collective Farm in the Russian Far East. The trio are being built to an SK-3101R design by Norwegian company Skipskompetanse.
Guðbjartur Thórarinsson takes over as managing director of Icelandic fishing gear company Ísfell, bringing with him a broad experience of various sectors of the fishing industry.
An open tender to provide a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) for Australian waters has been won by Icelandic tech company Trackwell. The new system is expected to manage thousands of commercial fishing vessels under Commonwealth, selective state and territory fisheries within the Australian EEZ.
Western Rock Lobster is supporting new technology designed to reduce whale entanglements for commercial and recreational fishers along the Western Australian coast. The introduction of whale tracking buoys is a joint initiative by the Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development, the Department of Biodiversity; Conservation and Attractions and Western Rock Lobster.
The Tranquility Fishing Company has taken delivery of a new 27.55 metre by 8 metre beam seine netter built at the Vestværft yard in Denmark. Tranquillity LK-63 is the company’s first newbuilding, and follows the older boat the seven co-owners started out with in 2008, and its 2010 replacement.