Following the success of its Sea Hunter doors, Faroese trawl door supplier Rock has added a new semi-pelagic trawl door design to its catalogue with the Sea Master doors that have been first tested extensively on board a Faroese coastal trawler.
‘The results during the tests on board Jens Leon have been very good and these doors have been available as a commercial product from the beginning of January,’ said Rock’s managing director Hans Jákup í Liðini.
‘Jens Leon’s skipper reports that the Sea Master doors are fantastic to work with, especially in a turn, and that they are easy to work with and are super stable during the tow.’
Rock’s standard semi-pelagic doors have been the Sea Hunter design that goes back some years to when these were first tried out on Greenlandic shrimp trawler Markus, and since they were shown to be a success these doors have been supplied to shrimpers and whitefish trawlers across the North Atlantic.
‘After Markus got its Sea-Hunter trawl doors they did very well, going from annual catch values worth DKK250 million to DKK290 million each year,’ He added that doors for the new Markus, which is about to be handed over its builder in Spain have already been delivered, with two pairs of Sea Hunter doors and two rolling weights ready to be used.
´The brand-new Regina C picked up its new 15.50 square metre Sea Hunter at the end of last year as it arrived in the Faroes from the Metal Ships & Docks yard in Spain,’ he said, adding that Svend C, Ocean Tiger, Reval Viking and Arctic Viking are all using the same type of Sea Hunter doors.
‘All of the smaller trawlers fishing in the Faroes for whitefish are also using sea hunter doors and they are doing well with them. The skippers tell us they are easy to use and the doors being light to tow saves them fuel.’
Pelagic success
Rock is also active in developing and producing pelagic trawl doors, notably with its Sea Eagle doors that were first used by one of the Faroese top catchers, Finnur Friði, for fishing herring, mackerel and blue whiting.
As the mackerel fishery grew and spread west to Greenlandic waters, a number of trawlers there fitted out for pelagic fishing and came to Rock for their doors.
‘The skippers told us that these were the best doors they had used,’ he said, adding that others have since then taken -Sea Eagle doors to fish for mackerel during the summer, including Svend C.
‘The skippers of Tuugalik and Fram have been using Sea Eagle doors and are satisfied with the results and the skippers of Finnur Friði and Svend C have said that these doors are one of a kind. Now we have been getting enquiries for these doors from other parts of the world,’ Hans Jákup í Liðini said.
Rock
