
Welcome to Fishing and Aquaculture Week!

The fishing boat market is slowly awakening thirty years on from the commencement of its global government “fisheries management” induced decline. Until about 1990, most fishing boats in developed countries were designed and built to have long lives. Because of that and the contracting market, there has been a significant oversupply of fishing boats until recently.
That situation, however, is changing rapidly. Increasing numbers of very impressive new vessels are being launched to replace older, less efficient boats that are passing their “use by” dates. The whole market has changed dramatically. Who, for example, would have thought thirty years ago of Norwegian owners importing their boats? As you will see on Baird Maritime this week, that is standard. Who would have thought of hybrid propulsion systems? Now it is common.
Trawling • Longlining • Seining • Potting • Aquaculture • Mariculture
Fishing boats, generally are becoming more efficient, more comfortable, safer, cleaner and more versatile. Their builders are spread globally and are building for an increasingly global market. As readers will discover, the fishing boat sector has become a whole new world.
Much the same is happening with aquaculture service vessels. For environmental and aesthetic reasons, fish farms are finally being moved further offshore. That inevitable move necessitates larger, stronger, more seaworthy fish cage structures and appropriately sized and powered vessels to service them. No longer will pensioned-off fishing boats be acceptable for such roles.
See this week’s Fishing and Aquaculture presentation in Baird Maritime to keep up with the latest about the vessels and their equipment that serve both sectors.
Vessel Reviews:
- Hardhaus – Turkish-built seiner/trawler promises low-emission operations for Norwegian owner
- AQS Tor – Heavy duty fish farm support boat enters service with Norway’s AQS
- Magne Arvesen – Versatile freezer trawler built for North Atlantic and Arctic waters
Features and Opinion:
– “Scientists often do not account for the in-between time as a fish is transitioning from one stage of development to the next, nor do they consider the cumulative impacts across life stages.”
News and Gear:
- Russian Fishery Company’s newest 108m trawler to commence operational sailings
- MAIB, DMAIB publish collaborative study on application and usability of ECDIS
- Aquaculture Stewardship Council launches consultation on new requirements to improve welfare of farmed fish
- Fishing boat sinks after colliding with debris from submerged wrecks near Kochi, India
- Pollution control underway on two wrecked Chinese fishing vessels in French Polynesia
- French fishing cooperative orders longliner from local yard
- UK MMO launches assessment programme for fishing vessel tracking devices
- Indian startup to introduce solar-powered fishing boats
- Norway’s Eidsfjord Sjøfarm acquires feed barge from local builder
- Construction nearly completed on Russian trawler Norvezhskoye More
- 23 dead, several others missing after ferry collides with fishing boat in eastern Bangladesh
- Researchers in US to develop advanced fish vaccines with nanocellulose
- Protecting largest, most prolific fish may boost productivity of fisheries, new research finds
- Norway’s AKVA Marine Services merges with local workboat operator
- Norwegian companies form offshore aquaculture partnership
- New Scottish-designed freezer trawler delivered to local fisherman
- Norwegian research institute conducts studies on disease in salmon in RAS facilities
- Three fishermen rescued from burning boat off Costa Rica
Recent Important Features:
OPINION | Hands off all sharks?
– “The animal rights NGOs and some so-called serious journals have stepped up their demands for bigger no-take zones and for more sharks to be listed in CITES’ appendices, regardless of their abundance and any ongoing mitigation strategies.”
– by Eugene Lapointe, president of the IWMC World Conservation Trust and a former secretary-general of CITES
FEATURE | US, Russia team up on Bering Sea fisheries management project
– “Collaborating between countries has clearly improved the effectiveness of surveys providing information on fluctuations in fish availability.”
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 September 3), 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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