Harbour News
Whitefish totalled 3500 boxes from 1 Scottish trawler, 2 landings from a Spanish liner and 1 landing from a French gill netter. The fishing over the fortnight has been pretty good although severe weather curtailed effort for 24 hours.
The shellfish sector had mixed fortunes with the offshore crabbers making good landings whilst the local prawn fleet spent most of the time tied up due to the weather.
The non fishing sector saw the fishfarm support tug Tie Venture in twice and the Marine Scotland vessels Alba Na Mara and Scotia in for routine crew changes. The Scotia hosted a visit for Ullapool High School pupils, despite the poor turnout those that attended enjoyed the tour and had plenty searching questions to ask. Scotia had just completed the annual Rockall haddock stock assessment survey, early indications are that the 2012 stock is looking very healthy which is welcome news after 3 successive poor recruitments. Hopefully if left in peace the new recruits will grow to marketable size and support a decent fishery in a couple of years.
UHT continues to have issues with youngsters coming down to the pier to ’fish’ climb down ladders, clamber under the pier via the pontoon and at times access other restricted areas. Whilst we have no desire to stop fishing from the pier this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated. If your children are planning a trip to fish from the pier they must at all times be accompanied by a responsible adult. Failure to adhere to UHT safety procedures will result in all concerned being banned from the area which would be a great shame for the many hundreds of anglers who enjoy the privilege and act responsibly.
Unfortunately due to lack of bookings the tall ship Wylde Swan decided to cancel the autumn visit. Currently the ship is in Eyemouth after hosting corporate receptions in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The ship will return to Holland soon to prepare for the next adventure, a trip across the Atlantic to spend the winter sail training in the Caribbean.
Congratulations to the Ullapool High School electric car teams who have both now qualified for the Greenpower F24 national finals at Goodwood next month http://www.greenpower.co.uk . The 2012 car, home designed and aptly named Insane Bolt performed well above expectations at the recent qualifying round at Aintree race circuit. The team of 6 dedicated drivers came in fifth place having completed 89.3 miles in 4 hours round a bumpy and hilly track on a windy day. The cars are now undergoing secret testing at a shed near you, with new technologies being incorporated to give them an even better chance of competing with the elite schools from south of the border. Well done to all concerned, once again another great story from our wee village.
Finally congratulations to the Loopallu team for laying on the best festival ever, great weather, fantastic music and hordes of revellers invading the village what a result, roll on next year.