Our Boats

Skipper: Robert Smith and gavin Thain
PLN: H360
Trawler Type: Pair Trawler
Species Landed: Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Coley, Hake
Length: 23.94m loa
Home Port: Peterhead
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes
Fishing for Litter scheme member: Yes

She launched in June 2018 and pair trawls with its sister vessel The Guiding Star which launched in 2014.
Apart from a small number of differences, both vessels are almost identical which is a testament to the performance of the Guiding Star as a second order was placed for the Guiding Light.

The Guiding Light was made to trawl for whitefish around the Peterhead area and into the North Sea.

The vessel has a whole host of technology onboard designed to increase the efficiency of fishing and to control the nets whilst being trawled behind the boat.
As with all our boats, the Guiding Light is part of the Fishing for Litter Scheme which gives the crews a designated place to store litter that’s brought up from the ocean floor. Our boats take this litter back to port and dispose of it properly.

The Guiding Light is part of the Fully Managed Fisheries Scheme which installs CCTV on board the vessel to record the catches and monitor discards. This is a new system currently in trial but offers skippers an increase in catch quota should they be part of the pilot scheme. This also negates the need for vessels to be boarded when out at sea as the inspection is done live, in real-time via the CCTV system. This system is being trialed and indicates a big shift towards new technologies in policing sustainability going forward.

The vessel has a gutting facility on board and the crew will semi prepare the fish whilst out at sea, pack them and chill them on ice ready to go to market.
There is much sensing and detection technology on board the boat as this helps the skipper locate fish and fishing grounds. Our skippers map the oil pipes on the seabed around Peterhead as they provide preferred shelter for many fish and identifying this helps our boats catch more fish.
In addition to this we can monitor our nets and adjust the position and deployment of them using the Scantrol system.

Nets
The Guiding Light will fish as a pair seine trawler. This method requires two boats fishing with the same net, side by side. Both boats tow a wide mouthed net behind them which enables a much bigger surface area and a bigger catch. The opening of the net is determined by the distance between the two boats. When it’s time to pull in the net only one of the boats will haul the fish on board.

The Guiding Light will pair seine with the Guiding Star, her sister boat. Trials have been completed and both are now currently in operation and fishing side by side.

Facts & Figures
PLN: H90
Trawler Type: Seine Net
Species Landed: Cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, hake, halibut, monkfish, ling and flatfish
Length: 26m
Beam: 7.80m
Speed: n/a
Fishroom Capacity: n/a
Home Port: Peterhead
CCTV Member: Yes
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes

Budding Rose PD 418 was built in Campbeltown shipyard in 1990 for brothers Peter and Stephen Bruce to replace their previous wooden built boat (Budding Rose PD284), which sank on the 25th July 1988 in the North sea, 100 miles East of Peterhead.

The Budding Rose catches its fish by a method of fishing known as the Pair-Seine. The Pair-Seine was first used by Scottish Seine net vessels approximately 15 years ago who wanted to keep fishing during the long dark winter nights rather than stop fishing altogether ( the seine net is predominately a daylight fishery ). Today there are very few whitefish vessels working out of Peterhead using the seine-net. Most whitefish vessels are either working the Pair-Seine, Pair-Trawl ( both methods of fishing are very similar however the Pair-Trawl tend to work on harder ground, and the length of warp / rope between the vessels and the net is usually not so long ) or work the single trawl using otter boards. As the name suggests the pair-seine involves the two boats, in this case the Budding Rose and the Lapwing working as a team. As you can imagine for a pair to be successful means close cooperation between both vessels and the crews. Skipper Peter Bruce ( Budding Rose ) and Brian Buchan ( Lapwing ) are in constant communication with each other over the VHF radio, so that both vessels are working as ” One ” especially the time of towing the net. If for some reason their towing engine speeds are not exactly harmonised the net will not be coming even and there is every possibility that a valuable haul will be wasted and no fish will be caught whatsoever.

Good communications is also vitally important in poor weather when the vessels have to come together to ” buckle up “. This is where one vessel has to come extremely close to the other so that they can pass their end of the warp over to the partner vessel, so it can be attached to the net and that the gear can be shot out and the tow can begin. After the gear is shot out they tow the net for about 4 hours maintaining a speed of about 2.5 knots at a distance of about 0.5 miles apart, the net is about a distance of 0.8 miles on their stern.

Types of net used 
When working the Bergen Bank in the summer the Budding Rose and the Lapwing each carry a “clean net”. The term “clean” means it`s a net for working relatively soft ground. A clean net is usually made of about 3mm polypropylene twine and the footrope ( the piece of the net that makes contact with the sea bed ) is usually made of small discs of about 8 inches for approximately 80 feet in length at the centre of the net, the other 100 feet is the length of the footrope of each wing of the net and is made up of lead rope ( to keep the net close to the sea bed).

In the winter months when working round the Shetland Islands the nets are usually made of much tougher twine about 5mm polypropylene and the footrope is reinforced with rubber discs ( usually cut out from old tractor or lorry tyres ) of up to 16 inches in diameter, this keeps the foot of the net off the sea bed and prevents it being torn.

FACTS & FIGURES:

PLN: PD418 
Trawler Type: Pair Trawler 
Species Landed: Cod, haddock, whiting, saithe and hake but others species like halibut, monkfish, ling and flatfish
Length: 25.46 loa 
Beam: 7.20m 
Speed: n/a 
Fishroom Capacity: n/a 
Home Port: Peterhead 
CCTV Member: Yes 
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes

Skipper: Graham West
PLN: H332
Trawler Type: Pair Trawler
Species Landed: Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Coley, Hake
Length: 23.52m loa
Home Port: Peterhead
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes
Fishing for Litter scheme member: Yes

Skipper: Edde and Wayne Fiske
PLN: INS167
Trawler Type: Pair Trawler
Species Landed: Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Coley
Length: 22.45m loa
Home Port: Peterhead
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes
Fishing for Litter scheme member: Yes

Skipper: Scott McPherson
PLN: INS127
Trawler Type: Pair Seine, Pelagic Pair trawl
Species Landed: Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Coley
Length: 24.36m loa
Home Port: Peterhead
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes
Fishing for Litter scheme member: Yes

Skipper: Andrew Hay
PLN: H119
Trawler Type: Pair Trawler
Species Landed: Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Coley, Hake
Length: 23.84m loa
Home Port: Peterhead
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes
Fishing for Litter scheme member: Yes

Skipper: Colin McKay
PLN: FR59
Trawler Type: Pair Trawler
Species Landed: Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Coley, Hake
Length: 25.71m loa
Home Port: Peterhead
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes
Fishing for Litter scheme member: Yes

Skipper: John A Buchan and Christopher Duffus
PLN: PD625
Trawler Type: Pair Trawler
Species Landed: Haddock
Length: 30.50m loa
Home Port: Peterhead
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes
Fishing for Litter scheme member: Yes

Skipper: Robert McLean
PLN: PD303
Trawler Type: Pair Trawler
Species Landed: Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Coley, Hake
Length: 23.99m loa
Home Port: Peterhead
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes
Fishing for Litter scheme member: Yes

Skipper: John Ritchie
PLN: PD97
Trawler Type: Pair Trawler
Species Landed: Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Coley, Hake
Length: 26.00m loa
Home Port: Peterhead
Responsible Fishing Scheme Member: Yes
Fishing for Litter scheme member: Yes