29 arrivals for the period.
Whitefish totalled 12,800 boxesfrom four Scottish trawl landings, seventeen Anglo Spanish long liners and three Anglo-Spanish gill netters. The Scottish trawlers have returned to Rockall for haddocks and hopefully before long squid will make an appearance as the water warms up. The Anglo fleet are enjoying very productive fishing of hake, ling and monkfish along the shelf edge with boats landing weekly.
Shellfish has been very quiet with prawns and crabs proving to be very scarce as is always the case at this time of year.
Non-fishing saw the return of the luxury German cruise ship Hanseatic, en route from St Kilda to Portree (picture courtesy of Steven Gourlay). Built in 1991, she specialises in trips to the Antarctic and is the only five-star expedition-cruise ship worldwide. At the time of reading, the German cruise ship Artania will have visited on Thursday and we expect return calls from Silver Cloudand Hebridean Princess on Saturday.
Harbour projects are progressing well on all fronts. The Wee Jetty has been extended by 13.5m and the final 3m will be added next week when the tide is at its lowest. The live shellfish store is 90% complete; installation of the recirculated seawater system is the only outstanding phase of the project. The Changing Place and Men’s Shed are ready for the underfloor heating to be laid and thereafter decoration and plumbing installation will complete the project.