MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Experimental fishing vessel for new Falklands scallop beds.
Uruguayan vessel the Holberg departed Stanley harbour on Monday afternoon for the three-week voyage. She was last night (Tuesday) sheltering from bad weather, but was due to resume her search as soon as conditions improved.
Earlier this year and at the tail end of 2003 the Holberg gathered 920 tonnes of scallops from beds to the north-east of Stanley ? the first season they have been caught commercially in the Islands. Her owners hope that new discoveries will prompt fisheries officials to grant them a greater catch in future seasons. The Holberg's Uruguayan operators Fripur work with Falkland Islands partners Hanswell Maritime Ltd.
Hanswell's Bob Fiddes said that of the 920 tonnes hauled on board last season, 100 tonnes of saleable scallops emerged from processing. They are initially processed on board the Holberg, then taken to Montevideo in Uruguay, from where they are marketed around the world as Falklands produce.
Mr Fiddes said the current research cruise was vital for the future growth of the fishery: "There's an awfully large area to cover, right around the Islands, until we find out if there are more scallops around. If there's not we have spent a full month just looking. "We hope we can find something that would give the vessel more work throughout the year, because at the moment its only 2 months' work every year. We have been working extremely hard and we have got to try and make it work."
The Falklands' Director of Fisheries, John Barton, said the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for scallops could be increased in future if the research cruise was successful ? and Fripur and Hanswell look set to benefit if that happens.
Mr Barton said: "Especially in the new fisheries policy - which isn't in place yet, but might set the way in which these things happen - the expectation is that folk will only pioneer resources if they get a reasonable chance of getting the benefit from them." He added that there were not many other specialised scallop vessels in the area that could compete for a share of the annual catch.
If new beds are discovered in the next three weeks, Mr Barton said the Fisheries Department would "have to contemplate" whether the TAC could increase in time for the coming season.
He added that there was no expectation of a significant catch from this voyage: "They aren't really fishing commercially for scallops, I think at the moment they are working in exploratory mode. They are not really intending to process too much ? it's just to cover the area to catch the density of scallops. They haven't come down equipped to process everything, just with the crew to do the experimental work."
Sue Gyford (MP) Stanley
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