Big turnout to welcome the eighth Serene to Whalsay
Jim Tait
Crowds gathered at Symbister on Saturday afternoon to watch the arrival of Whalsay’s latest pelagic trawler, the 82-metre Serene.
The boat, the latest of eight to bear the same name, was built at the Karstensens shipyard in Denmark. She is understood to be Shetland’s largest fishing vessel so far.
Skipper Bobby Polson and partners signed the order for the new boat at the Skipper Expo trade show in Aberdeen two years ago.
The previous Serene, 10 metres shorter, was only delivered nine years ago. She has been sold to a Norwegian owner and is now renamed the Havstål.
The first Serene, a dual purpose wooden drift/seine net boat was built by Mr Polson’s father Mackie in 1955. At around 70 feet she was just a quarter of the latest vessel’s length.
The second, the first purse netter, arrived in 1969. Five more were to follow, each one larger and more efficient than the last, until this weekend brought the eighth.
Mackie Polson, who founded the Serene Fishing Company, died just over four years ago aged 85. But three of the original partners remain within the organisation.
David Spence
With the Tories having their own agenda under the guise of ‘ Brexit ‘, I sincerely hope that the fishing industry within Shetland and Scotland is not a green light to totally exploit and drain the North Sea/North and East Atlantic Ocean and Arctic waters entirely of fish under the same agenda as Brexit (the quick buck mentality)?
Surely we must have learned what such action can do to other parts of the world to what was rich fishing grounds but are now depleted of any fish due to such a mentality of short term gain and to hell with the long term consequences?
I am intrigued as to what exactly Brexit will bring to the table in regard to what fishing grounds UK fishermen can fish and what, if any, trade agreements there will have to be with other countries fishing the same waters?
Like animals on the verge of extinction (due to human activity) ‘ Conservation ‘ is the key word for sustainability within such an industry as well as eco-systems within the oceans?
Peter Long
God bless Serene and all who sail in her!