28 arrivals for the period
Whitefish totalled 4300 boxes from six Anglo Spanish vessels plus three landings from the Scottish trawler Adventurer. The Anglo vessels are starting to return north after spending time at home undergoing refits and repairs. The Inverness-registered Adventurer usually works at Rockall fishing for haddocks and monkfish. More recently the boat has worked closer to home as the skipper/owner and his wife have been expecting their first baby. The boat made an unscheduled early landing last week and the skipper made it home for the birth of his daughter – congratulations to all at this happy time.
Shellfish has been quieter than in recent weeks and a handful of visiting prawners, the two offshore crabbers, a scallop dredger and the local prawn fleet all reporting poor catches.
Non-fishing arrivals were slightly more prolific with a number of vessels supporting the NATO exercise Joint Warrior plus we had a final call from the Irish Lights vessel Granuaile.
The stricken oil rig Transocean Winner was successfully lifted onto the heavy lift ship Hawk at the second attempt on 7th October. The Hawk set sail from Broad Bay on 14th October and is currently cruising through the Mediterranean at 12 knots with an ETA in Malta on 25th October. This is a fantastic outcome especially given the potential environmental headache the grounding could have caused – well done to all concerned.
An Evening With Philip Hoare
Author Philip Hoare is speaking upstairs at the Ferry Terminal on Wednesday evening 2 November at 7.30pm. Philip is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton and is also Leverhulme artist-in-residence at the Marine Institute. His book Leviathan, or The Whale won the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson award for non-fiction. Between 2011 and 2012, his self-professed “whale obsession” led him to create the Moby Dick Big Read. His most recent book is The Sea Inside (2013). We know that this will be a real pleasure for anybody who loves reading, cetaceans or simply listening to a terrific speaker. The event is free (there will be wine too) and is hosted by Living Seas North West Highlands and Ullapool Harbour Trust.