Icelandic trawl door manufacturer Polar Fishing Gear has seen its exports of trawl doors growing over the last year, not least to the Russian Far East where its Mercury, Jupiter and Thor doors are in demand.
‘Our presence on the Russian market has been growing, especially in the Far East,’ said Atli Jósafatsson at Polar Fishing Gear.
‘We supplied more than twenty sets of doors to Russian vessels in 2017, all of the large doors, and most of these have been our Mercury semi-pelagic doors from 8 up to 11 square metres, as well as some Jupiter pelagic doors.’
Three pairs of Thor demersal doors went to one company with its trawlers fishing for squid, replacing Korean-made doors, and with some dramatic results.
‘They were able to go from their old 14 square metre doors to 10 square metre Thor doors, with a significant drop in fuel consumption. They also managed to increase their towing speeds, so catches jumped as well. This made a big difference, catching more squid and burning less fuel.’
He commented that a pair of 12 square metre Jupiter doors were supplied to pelagic factory trawler Enigma Astralis (ex-Aðalsteinn Jónsson), sold last year from Iceland to Russia, and these spread an FS 1660 Atlantica pelagic trawl.
‘The Jupiter doors are very good, good to shoot and stable. They are a little too large for the 1660 Atlantica trawl but we tuned the doors to minimum spread,’said Valdi Alla who skippers Enigma Astralis.
‘FS sells for us in Russia, but we also keep in close contact with Russian companies,’ Atli Jósafatsson said, and added that one of the biggest operators, Russian Sea, took delivery of five pairs of 9.50 sq metre and one 11 sq metre pair of Mercury doors, while former Swedish pelagic pair team Tor-On and Torland are now fishing singly for their new Russian owners with 1460 Atlantica trawls from FS and 11 sq metre Jupiter pelagic doors.
