62 arrivals for the period
Whitefish activity was fairly busy; 13,350 boxes were landed by eighteen Scottish trawl and five Anglo longliners. The Scottish lads have started to concentrate their efforts along the Shelf Edge, targeting saithe, monkfish, megrim, ling and haddock. Rockall remains an option for some of the bigger boats but returns have been very poor in recent weeks. A number of Scottish vessels have very limited quota opportunities in the North Sea and will remain west for as long as the weather allows. The Anglo fleet continues to fish for ling, hake and monkfish mainly in northern waters. The fleet is mostly landing into Scrabster while an occasional vessel is fishing along the Shelf Edge and landing into Ullapool.
The shellfish sector has been fairly quiet; only six prawners and a single scallop dredger visited which combined with the efforts of the local trawl and creel fleet.
Non-fishing activities were once again dominated by the fish farm sector. In total there were twenty-two arrivals ranging from treatment tank ships Aqua Skye, Inter Caledonia, Ronjafisk, Ronja Viking to work vessels Aqua Enterprise, BK Marjory and fish carriers Migdale and Aqua Star. Passenger ships included tall ship Blue Clipper which is locally based for six weeks, Stornoway dive and nature vessel Monadhliath – visiting for guest collection, inshore cruise ship Glen Etive – anchored and maiden calls from two brand new ocean-going cruise ships Spirit of Discovery and Ocean Explorer.
Shore Street Project Update
At this stage there is still very little to report. The project is still under review by both Marine Scotland and Highland Council. Harbour engineers are preparing the tender documentation and have received notes of interest from construction companies through the Public Contracts Scotland web portal. Funding applications are ongoing; to date all responses have been positive.