The innovative trawl doors made by Mar Eco for small scale fisheries are going to be on display at both of the Skipper exhibitions this year.
At the Irish Skipper Expo in Limerick, Atli Már Jósafatsson of MarEco is focusing on the Pluto demersal doors that have already been tried out in Ireland, and there are new versions of these innovative plastic doors on the way, their development based on the experience with several Irish trawlers.
‘We have had four pairs of 1.1 square metre doors that have been used on Irish boats, and while these performed well, they turned out to be slightly too small – although one our customers replaced a pair of 1.6 square metre steel doors with these 1.1 square metre Pluto doors, and got almost the same spread,’ he said.
‘So now we’re working on the next size up and are preparing a mould for 1.4 square metre doors, ready to start producing doors very soon to meet the demand for these from Ireland and the UK.’
As well as northern Europe, MarEco’s plastic Pluto trawl doors have shown themselves to be popular along the whole of the Spanish Mediterranean coast, and this is where a 2.3 square metre pelagic door design comes in.
‘A couple of trawlers from Palamos are going to be trying these out – and the authorities in Catolania are looking at the possibility of making it a requirement for demersal trawlers to work with pelagic doors that are towed off the bottom,’ he said, adding that this is a part of the world where the company’s steel Jupiter pelagic doors have already popular.
‘There’s a lot of interest in our plastic doors in this part of the world, especially for pelagic doors in the 2 – 2.5 square metre range,’ he said, adding that the moulds for the 1.4 square metre demersal doors and the new pelagic design are going to be located in Spain to supply the European market easily.
‘We’ll be showcasing the Pluto plastic doors at both of the Skipper exhibitions this year. We have taken part in every one of these exhibitions over the years, both in Ireland and in Aberdeen – and the reason this is simply that there’s nowhere else that we get to speak to so many skippers.’
