Brighter Hope for fishermen as they take ownership of boat

Two young brothers and their friend have taken ownership of the Copious and renamed her Brighter Hope (LK98).

Tom Robertson, 33, and Ross Robertson, 30, along with George Jamieson, 36, have acquired the 19m vessel.

Brighter Hope is named after Mr Jamieson’s grandfather John James Fullerton’s 45ft boat Brighter Hope (LK 502), which was bought in the early 1950s.

New skipper Tom Robertson said: “We hope to start fishing within the next two weeks after doing some upgrades and sorting the paperwork.

“There are a lot of ifs and buts about buying a boat in the current climate, with the fuel situation, but we have no doubts and are thinking positively about the future.

“No one said that fishing was going to be easy, but we’re really keen to get going – to make our own way in the industry – and to build a future for our own young families in the same way our fathers did for us.”

Previous owner Mark Anderson said he was “delighted to be handing the boat over to a new Shetland crew and to see her continuing as part of the Shetland fleet.”

Shetland Fishermen’s Association executive officer Sheila Keith said it was “great to see family ownership continue in Shetland, which gives hope for the security of fish catching in the islands”.