Gavin Morgan

25 September 2007

A NEWLY formed Burra partnership has added yet another trawler to the re-vitalised Shetland whitefish fleet.

The 23 meter Quiet Waters B 221 has been bought by skipper Ross Christie and Partners from its previous owner Junior Coffey in Portavogie, County Down, in Northern Ireland. She arrived in Shetland yesterday.

Chief executive of the Shetland Fisherman’s Association Hansen Black said the industry was delighted to welcome another whitefish boat to Shetland, owned by a young partnership.

“It is certainly a very positive sign that we have young fishermen willing to invest in a new boat. Hopefully that optimism will keep going through the industry.

“We were very badly hit with the decommissioning schemes in the past and the fleet of boats in Shetland went down to a level that was questioning the viability of the fish markets and the other ancillary businesses.

“Any rebuilding is a step in the right direction and hopefully there will be more to come in the future.”

The boat was one of the last vessels of its type, a dual purpose pelagic-whitefish pair trawler, when it was built in 1981 by the MacDuff Boatbuilding and engineering company.

It was originally owned by Inverallochy skipper Albert Richie who had it fitted with Refrigerated Sea Water (RSW) tanks, so it could serve by working in both fishing sectors.

The Quiet Waters was sold to Ireland in 1995 and in 1997 its original Hedemora main engine was replaced by a Cat 3412 unit.

Since its RSW tanks were removed, it has been working as a semi pelagic whitefish trawler.