10 arrivals for the period
Whitefish totalled 1300 boxes from 1 Scottish and 4 Anglo Spanish landings. The recent spell of stormy weather impacted heavily on fishing activity with virtually all boats running for shelter. The Anglo fleet still continue to fish for hake on the shelf edge with some of the boats working further north and landing into Scrabster. 2014 has been a very busy year for whitefish landings due mainly to a very productive summer Rockall squid fishery, with 25,000 boxes landed over an 8 week period.
Shellfish arrivals were few and far between due to strong winds. Despite this the offshore crabbers made reasonable landings for the period. The clam dredger Georgia Dawn made her final landing from local waters before heading back south.
2014 Arrivals Summary
Scottish Whitefish – 38 landings – Top Scottish Whitefish – Adventurer – 13 landings
Anglo Spanish – 114 landings – Top Anglo Spanish Whitefish- Ayr Queen – 25 landings
Offshore Crabbers – 83 landings – Top Crabber – Our Hazel – 43 landings
2014 was an amazing year for Ullapool Harbour with fishing on the increase, record numbers of cruise passengers, the return of two Tall Ships and most important of all – an unprecedented investment of over £12M in harbour infrastructure. The ferry works are due to continue into 2015 with anticipated completion of all aspects by the end of May.
2015 will see the new ferry Loch Seaforth take up the Ullapool to Stornoway ferry service, the opening of the new passenger terminal and completion of the replacement Linkspan. Once again cruise numbers are on the increase with 12,000 passengers and crew scheduled to visit the village with 4 maiden calls from Adonia, Boudicca, Horizon and Ocean Majesty. Tall ship Wylde Swan will return in July for a further three weeks of adventure voyages along the West Coast. To date Ullapool Harbour has sponsored over 200 local youths to undertake Tall Ship voyages with further trips planned in 2015. These trips are paid for by the sale of the harbour calendar which once again has been snapped up by eager shoppers.
The ongoing works have brought some short-term traffic and noise disruption to the local community; we are working as hard and quickly as possible to ensure the whole process is completed speedily. Once again we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Congratulations to the Summer Isles Music Festival, Ceilidh Place and Isles FM all of whom won their respective categories at the 2014 Na Trads awards in Inverness last Saturday evening. A fantastic result in stiff competition and proving that west is truly best!
On behalf of Ullapool Harbour Trustees and staff I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and support throughout the year and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and very best wishes for 2015.