30 arrivals for the period
Whitefish totalled 16,000 boxes from eight Scottish trawl landings, six Anglo-Spanish long-line landings and three Anglo- Spanish freezer netters. Scottish whitefish landings for Ullapool are on the rise with boats continuing to fish west taking advantage of increased quotas and abundant fish on the grounds. The Banff-registered Genesis called in with 100 boxes of groundfish having completed the annual Marine Scotland monkfish assessment charter at Rockall; she then headed back to sea to complete the same exercise at the shelf edge grounds. The results of these charters are the primary method for calculating the health of the monkfish stock and the collected data feeds into the quota allocation negotiations. The remainder of the Scottish effort is still focused on Rockall. With haddock catches now tailing off, the boats are targeting monkfish and ling – some skippers are looking for squid. The Anglo fleet is slowly returning south. The boats continue to land reasonable catches of hake and ling weekly. The freezer vessels which are working further west are landing processed monkfish and deepwater crab after voyages of several weeks’ duration.
The shellfish sector has been extremely quiet. Prawn catches have been very poor but is to be expected at this time of the year. The larger trawlers have gone south and east to try their luck and will return to the Minch in the summer.
Non-fishing was fairly busy and mixed with eight arrivals overall. The Inter Caledonia and Ievoli Black called in for crew changes and fuel, Tall Ships Tecla and Williams II stayed over to collect passengers, the dive charter vessel Halton was day-running and the first scheduled cruise ship of the season Viking Sun visited for a half day call.
Harbour-side events: A busy few days lie ahead with the annual Skiff Regatta which coincides with the return of cruise vessel Seabourn Quest and a Garden of Reflection open air concert in the band stand at the ferry carpark. You can follow events at the harbour on the front page of the website www.ullapool-harbour.co.uk.