Welcome to Fishing and Aquaculture Week!

Regular readers of Baird Maritime could not fail to notice that for the past couple of years there has been a growing trend towards larger, more versatile and much more stylish fishing boats and aquaculture support vessels. This, of course, is not before time. It follows on the heels of a more than twenty-year drought in fishing vessel design and construction.

Well, everything, it seems, comes to he or she who waits. What we are starting to see now has been well worth waiting for. As you will see, some of the vessels featured here over the next few days are very impressive in every way. They are efficient, effective, economical, safe, comfortable, environmentally clean, comparatively fast, and very versatile. They offer excellent displays of the naval architects’ and shipbuilders’ arts and talents.

We have, for well over twenty years, been commenting on the need for bigger and better boats to facilitate the requirement for a move further offshore for many aquaculture operations. It is satisfying to see this finally starting to happen.

Trawling • Longlining • Seining • Potting • Aquaculture • Mariculture

Without this development, this very important and promising industry sector was liable to be driven out of business by the activities of a very active and aggressive Green movement. In reality, the move further offshore is also very positive for the overall marine environment.

The larger operational scale facilitated by these larger vessels working further offshore should ultimately lead to significant economies. So, everybody wins.

The current generation of fishing boats, too, facilitates better processing of a wider variety of species at sea. Thus, less waste. Again, everybody wins.

Crews are more comfortable and significantly safer, drier and warmer. They will work more effectively and enthusiastically.

Finally, twenty plus years on, the fishing and aquaculture sectors are moving enthusiastically into the twenty-first century. These developments may have been a long time coming but they are certainly worth the wait. We trust you enjoy and gain value from our Fishing and Aquaculture Week. As a former fisherman, fifty years ago, I find it fascinating and will be studying it all very enviously.

Vessel Reviews:

• Helen Rice – Multi-role mooring and gridwork aquaculture support vessel for Inverlussa
• Ronja Storm – World’s biggest wellboat has 16.8 million litre/day desalination capability
• Havfarm 1 – Mammoth, semi-submersible, exposed aquaculture pen arrives in Norway

Features and Opinion:

FEATURE | Russia to establish fish transportation via the Northern Sea Route

 “The ship transported more than 5,000 tonnes of fish products in 204 forty-foot reefer containers, and 66 containers with other cargoes. The voyage lasted for 26.85 days including 19.2 sea days and 7.66 port days. The ship covered 7,880.6 nautical miles with an average speed of 17.11 knots.”

– by Vitaly Chernov, Editor-in-Chief, IAA PortNews

News and Gear:

• New seiner/trawler delivered to Norway’s Alta Fiskeriselskap
• Maine lobster businesses awarded US$14.9 million in Covid-19 relief loans
• Queensland authorities seize 70 illegal crab pots in latest clean-up drive
• Netherlands’ CSR launches new twin-rigger for local owner
• New dive boat for Frøy Vest completes sea trials
• Norway’s Selvåg Senior orders hybrid pelagic catcher
• Russian fisheries agency to standardise new catch monitoring system
• Cargo ship rescues distressed fishermen off Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines
• Operations begin at world’s first emissions-free fish farm
• Tersan scores Danish order for factory trawler

Recent Important Features:

OPINION | Tuna price-fixing scandal implicates global NGOs

– “The story behind this one-billion-dollar price fixing scandal, the biggest and most outrageous industrial subterfuge since Enron, is complex. It involves a web of opportunism and mixed agendas. And what still needs to be exposed is the role of NGOs in facilitating this mega crime.”

by Eugene Lapointe, conservationist, President of IWMC World Conservation Trust, and former Secretary General of CITES

Vale Arvie Edwin “Dugie” Freeman, co-founder of Freeman Marine Equipment

– “Following a brief battle with cancer, Dugie Freeman passed away peacefully in his home on the morning of June 9, 2020 with his wife at his side.”

OPINION | Determining the true human cost of fishing

– “The ILO and FAO estimate that between 24 000 and 32 000 deaths occur annually in the pursuit of fishing – making fishing the most hazardous occupation in the world.”

– by Eric Holliday, FISH Safety Foundation

Remember to come back every day to see the latest news, opinion and vessel reviews!

Call for content!

Any news or views about the global commercial fishing and aquaculture industries? Send it through to [email protected] ASAP (between now and May 22), so we can add it to this current edition of Fishing and Aquaculture Week!

We are after:

• Vessels – Orders, new deliveries, under construction
• Gear – Latest innovations and technology in the fishing/aquaculture sectors
• Interviews – Owners, operators, processors, co-ops, distributors etc.
• Reminiscences – Do you have any exciting, amusing or downright dangerous anecdotes from your time in the fishing world? (example here)
• Other – Any other relevant news

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