Harbour News 24 July – 13 August 2018

22 Arrivals for the Period.

Whitefish totalled 1800 boxes from two Scottish twin rig trawlers. The Peterhead-registered Atlantic Challenge and the Banff-registered Aquarius both landed mixed shots of saithe, cod, haddock and monkfish from Rockall. The Anglo fleet continues to fish south landing mainly into Killybegs.

Shellfish was fairly busy for the period; there weretwelve landings from visiting prawn trawlers, three landings from the offshore crabber Our Hazel together with the efforts of the local fleet.

In non-fishingnews, we welcomed cruise ships Seabourn Quest, Marina, Silver Wind and Ocean Majesty for scheduled day visits, the Marine Harvest wellboat Inter Caledoniacalled in for a 24hr crew change and the Northern Lighthouse Board ship Pole Star came in for fuel. At 66,000 tonnes and 1200 passenger capacity, cruise vessel MS Marina is the largest ship to use the inner anchorage and the maximum capacity cruise vessel accepted at Ullapool harbour. Given the constraints of Lochbroom and the village the harbour operates a single ship at anchor policy to ensure that the village can adequately service the volume of passengers coming ashore.    So far this season, cruise visits have been blessed with decent weather; unfortunately Viking Sky was forced to cancel her maiden call last Sunday due to high winds.

Launched in 2016, the wellboat Inter Caledoniauses natural methods to eradicate sea lice by utilising reverse osmosis technology. As well as removing and destroying sea lice, the new vessel uses fresh water to prevent the development of fish Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD), which can occur when water temperatures are higher than normal.The wellboat has the capacity to carry up to 300 tonnes of live fish at any one time. She will use reverse osmosis technology to turn seawater into fresh water at a capacity of 200M3/hour, and will be able to completely fill her wells every ten hours, allowing the fish to be bathed in fresh water.

Harbour projects continue.  The final fit-out of the Changing Places fully accessible toilet and the Community Workshop is expected to take place over the next fortnight. This project has been delayed due to an issue with the floor screed which has finally been resolved. Hopefully both facilities will be up and running by the beginning of September.

Tall Ships are returning!  The magnificent Dutch three-masted schooner Oosterschelde arrives next Saturday for a 4-day visit and the following Friday our very own Wylde Swan will return for a month of west coast sailing adventures. There are still a few places left on some of the Wylde Swan voyages so please check out their website (www.wyldeswan.com) and grab this unique opportunity which is on your doorstep.