UK fishing gear supplier Gael Force has added a new rope to its product line, as well as a range of value creels produced in the Far East to the company’s design and specifications.
The company’s Plymouth manager Stuart Cameron described the SeaKing XL rope as an ‘firm lay, oversized, overweight premium pot rope.’
This is available in leaded (silver with a blue fleck) and buoyant (yellow with a blue fleck) versions between 8 and 16mm, and the SeaKing XL rope has been through an exhaustive testing process.
‘This has been tested in the Channel Islands under some of the toughest conditions for potting. It performed well and the crews like how easily is handles on deck,’ he said, adding that testing a new rope is normally a long process, although normally a bad design is quickly identified.
‘This definitely isn’t a bad one,’ he said. ‘This is oversized as the 14mm rope measures 15.50mm.’
He said that Gale Force carries a huge range of items, with a product catalogue that is growing constantly. The problem the Plymouth branch faces is that of storage space, although Stuart Cameron said that expansion is an option that is being looked into. The lack of space limits the stock of pots that can be kept on site, although there is always access to the stock of pots held in Scotland, where the Stornoway factory has bene working flat-out for the last several years.
‘We’re now introducing a value range of creels,‘ he said. ‘These are produced to our own standards and to our design, and to start with it’s a 26” soft eye, which we are producing in China on the back of the very successful value prawn creels that have done tremendously well in Scotland.
Production in the Far East means that these are available at a lower cost than locally made gear, and Stuart Cameron said that the Sea Catch pots enable Gael Force to approach a market segment they couldn’t service before.
He explained that the Sea Catch range of creels are very similar to the standard Stornoway-made creels, but represent a significant saving in costs, which is a trade-off against less flexibility.
‘We always make it clear to the customer what we are selling, whether a pot is from Stornoway or if it’s made overseas. With the Stornoway pots we are able to stop the process at any practically point, so customers can have a bare frame, or a netted creel, or complete. With the Sea Catch range, we only supply complete netted and rubbered creels, ready to fish. All you need to do is put on a bridle and a spinner,’ he said.
‘We’re also aware that’s where the demand is. Fishermen are working harder, fishing more gear to make ends meet as prices are much the same as they were thirty years ago. So they have less time to work on their own gear and the demand for ready-to-fish cab gear is greater now.’
