Gerda Maria was the breakthrough to the Norwegian market with a 2016 metre trawl made from Capto for the 2015 blue whiting season, Jógvan S Jacobsen at Vónin’s pelagic division said.
‘Gerda Maria took its 7500 tonne quota in four trips. Vónin supplied a full package, including Monarch trawl doors a a 68 metre codend with a 700 tonne capacity,’ he said.
Using Vónin’s Capto rope has made a significant difference to the company’s pelagic trawls, making them easier to handle than this kind of gear had been in the past, as well as easier to shoot and haul.
‘The skippers really appreciate how light these trawl are to tow compared to older gears, while the strength and high abrasion resistance mean that trawls made in Capto have a much longer working lifetime than what they had been used to.’
The Gerda Maria order was followed by an order for another full package for the new Kvannøy to be delivered as it was completed at the Karstensen yard in Skagen. This was for the same 2016 metre trawl made from Capto, a pair of Monarch doors and 68 and 78 metre codends.
‘They did well on the Porcupine Bank and off Rockall, with no problems at all and Kvannøy coped comfortably with the 2016 metre trawl.’
There have since been more orders from Norway, including a 2304 metre trawl for Åkerøy, another 2304 metre set of gear for Tronderbas, and Viking Bank and Cetus ordered smaller 1728 metre gear, giving Vónin a secure foothold on the Norwegian market.
‘All of the trawls are made in our Capto rope in the large meshes, which has proved to be a very successful combination. The hand-made meshes in the forward sections of all these trawls decrease row by row down to the belly, providing a gradual reduction through the large mesh sections.
‘We have also been busy with sorting grids for blue whiting and these have been effective in filtering out non-target species from catches. These are used when the fish move north into Faroese waters, so we have supplied a lot of these to Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese pelagic vessels,’ Jógvan S Jacobsen said
