The Board of the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation (SSMO) has hailed the successful MSC re-accreditation of the local scallop dredge and brown crab fisheries by the international sustainability watchdog.
A new Typhoon 38 completed for Donald and Catriona Maclennan in Stornoway has already been steamed home after being completed at the G Smyth yard in Kilkeel. With the crab season still underway, the owners hope to make the most of it with this fast new crabber.
With ever-increasing fishing on their home grounds in the Baltic, several Polish vessels have had to seek opportunities further from home, including crabbing vessel Helot and its crew from Gdynia.
PrimKrab, the crab fishing subsidiary of the Russian Fishery Company, has signed an agreement with design company Nautic Rus to develop a design for a new type of crabbing vessel. The new design is to be delivered within two months and a decision on the final design will be made once the project has been approved.
UK fishing company Waterdance has placed orders with the Luyt yard at Den Oever in Holland for two new fishing vessels. A new crabber is already under construction and the keel of a new 30m beam trawler to join the UK fleet will be laid this summer.
The MSC certificate for the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (SGOSL) snow crab trap fishery in Canada has been suspended by certifier SAI Global (SAIG). The certifier concluded that based on new information including the Incident Report on 2017 right whale mortalities in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the fishery no longer meets the MSC Fishery Standard related to Endangered, Threatened and Protected species.
The keel of a new crab catcher for Russian Far East fishing company Antey has been laid at the Pella Shipyard in St Petersburg, following the signing of the contract between the yard and the fishing company for the first of this series of vessels.
The Vostok-1 Fishing Collective Farm has taken delivery of a modernised fishing vessel to develop fishing for crab in deeper waters in the Sea of Japan. Vostok-1 was a pioneer of this fishery in the early 2000s when there was little interest in catching crabs, and has made a success of its tenacity in sticking with the crab fishery over the years.
A Platform Support Vessel that was sold more than a year ago to an unnamed buyer has now been delivered to Zamakona Yards in Pasajes. Once it has been converted for its new role, owners Luntos Co Ltd plan to operate the vessel as a crab catcher with capacity to work as a floating processor for pelagic species.
Russian’s Barents Sea red king crab fishery in the Barents Sea has become the first king crab fishery in the world to achieve MSC certification as a sustainable and well-managed fishery. The certification was awarded by independent certifier Acoura Marine following a detailed assessment.