82 arrivals for the period
Whitefish totalled 29,800 boxes from seventeen Scottish trawl, six Anglo longline and three Anglo freezer netters. Scottish effort is centred round the seasonal Rockall haddock fishery with a fleet of vessels heading west to try their luck. Early indications are positive with vessels reporting reasonable returns for their efforts. The Anglo longline fleet continue to work up and down the shelf edge looking for mainly hake and ling, with mixed results. The three freezer netters all made good landings of processed monkfish from deepwater grounds.
Shellfish was very busy, as is the case at this time of year, with a fleet of east coast prawn trawlers working the minches and landing every few days. In addition, the local fleet is fishing well with the creel men reporting good results. Three Oban registered scallop dredgers made multiple landings throughout the month.
Non-fishing activities were once again dominated by fishfarm support vessels, thirteen of which called in for fuel, crew, stores and occasional shelter. In addition, the MCA tug Ievoli Black came in for fuel and a crew change.
Shore Street Project Update
Work continues on all fronts; the beach steps were installed last week and the two beach ramps are progressing well, the stonemasons have completed 50% of the seawall facing, kerbs are being laid on the south footway and dredging is finally underway. Foyle Dredging started work on the 20th March and hope to have deepened the target areas by the end of the month. Pictured the spud leg barge, hopper barge and tug are working their way around the inner harbour and fishing boat berths deepening as required. Many thanks to all the skippers who have been temporarily relocated from the Inner Harbour to allow these works to be completed. The harbour entrance kerbing has been installed and tarring will be completed in the coming days in readiness for the first cruise ship of the season on the 9th April.