The Falkland Islands will add to its registered fleet a state of the art trawler which should be operational by 2021 belonging to a local joint venture company, Petrel Fishing Company Ltd. In early 2019, the Board of Fortuna Ltd approved the construction of a new trawler to join their current fleet of five trawlers. The vessel will be owned and operated by Fortuna Joint Venture Company - “Petrel Fishing Company Ltd”.
The Galicia, Spain-based boat-builder Nodosa Shipyard has received orders for a pair of new Spanish trawlers during the past month. In its most recent order, Nodosa signed a contract with the Spanish harvester Pescapuerta Group to build a new freezer stern trawler for fishing in the South Atlantic. It aims to have delivered the vessel by the end of 2020, ready to enter full operations for the spring 2021 season.
A delegation from the Falkland Islands government was last week in Vigo, Spain to support Falklands Fishing Company Association (FIFCA) members attending the Conxemar Seafood Exhibition and to reinforce the Falkland Islands case during Brexit negotiations.
A delegation of two technicians from the Spanish Port of Vigo are visiting the Falkland Islands with the aim of offering their informed opinions on potential port development. The Falklands has a close business relationships with the port as a result of long term joint business ventures with Spanish fishing companies, and the new Falklands longliner CFL Hunter was built there.
The Loligo squid season took off this weekend in the Falkland Islands and the Galician partners of local companies are hopeful that they can repeat catches of the last season when some 46.000 tons were landed. The experimental sampling previous to the official launching points to stability, according to Javier Touza president of ARVI, the Vigo cooperative of vessel owners.
Falkland Islands representatives met with port of Vigo authorities to assess the infrastructure, services, development plans and competitiveness of the Galician fisheries terminal, one of the busiest and most efficient in the European Union, reports the Galicia media.
A state of the art longliner, the Falklands “CFL Hunter” was baptized and launched at the Nodosa de Marín shipyard in Pontevedra, in a ceremony that included representatives from Consolidated Fisheries, Falklands lawmakers plus members of the Galicia government and the yard.
Falkland Islands Consolidated Fisheries Ltd. new longliner was launched in Spain last 20 July at an event attended by a number of CFL staff, directors, and Galician business people linked to the fishing industry.