Scottish crabber Amberlisa is back fishing after four months at a shipyard in Donegal, and made a start in the North Sea, landing into a truck for the catch to be driven to Ixe Foods in Holland from Hvide Sande in Western Denmark.
Skipper Anthony O’Donnell was only moderately satisfied with the trip, with the 19 metre crabber’s crew of five working 3000 pots on grounds 45 nautical miles west of Hvide Sande to land around 12 tonnes of crab.
He commented that the 5-5 days fishing was below par, and with 3000 pots and the weather getting warmer, he would expect to land two 15 tonne trips a week. But while the boat was at the shipyard, 400 of their pots disappeared.
He said that they expect to continue fishing off Jutland for the next few months, and he has seen three Irish crabbers working further to the south, as well as five UK crabbers fishing west of Jutland.
According to Anthony O’Donnell, the reason for seeking out Danish waters is that their traditional grounds are not as productive as they had been and there is growing competition, while he is not the only one to have gone further afield to find new fishing opportunities.
Catches are trucked to Holland, with cock crabs shipped to the UK, and hen crabs go to the Chinese market.
