News / Serene takes isles fleet even further ahead
THE BIGGEST pelagic trawler to be built for Shetland yet, Serene (LK 297), was readying for sea on Tuesday morning, with the crew taking advantage of a software glitch that had delayed sailing to rig up gear.
Skipper Bobby Polson said that they were all raring to go and the crew had been high as kites on the 82 metre long vessel’s voyage across from Karstensen’s Shipyard in Denmark.
Ten metres longer than her predecessor, Serene is also nearly two metres wider, giving her greater stability and vastly more deck space. She is also faster than the previous Serene, which was the seventh vessel to bear the name and was sold to new owners in Alesund in Norway, who are said to be very happy with her.
Serene will be fishing with 12 crew on every trip and heading for the herring between Fair Isle and Start Point in Orkney as soon as she is ready to catch this year’s quota.
Before heading to Lerwick on Monday to take on stores, Serene was in her home port of Symbister where she was met by a welcoming crowd.
Polson said: “It was exciting coming in hame. I felt a bit tight. But it was so fine to see everybody down on the pier when we came in about. It is good. Good for Whalsay and good for the fishing.
“She is very quiet compared to the last boat. You cannot hear the engines at all from the wheelhouse. Her stability is better and she is quicker.
“She is faster rolling so maybe not as comfortable as the old one. Through time we will find out how to trim her.
“The storage space is massive. It is that fine working with the gear in the stern with the space provided by the extra beam. The crew were just high – they were that happy with the last boat and this one will be a bit better.”
While there is uncertainty in fishing between Brexit and the constant possibility of reduced quotas, though the sea is presently full of mackerel, the shareholders decided it would be a good idea to make use of their building tonnage rather than “keep it in the cupboard”.
At 4,141 tonnes, Serene is substantially bigger than the old boat and has 1,000 cubic metres more refrigerated seawater (RSW) tank capacity, meaning fish can be spread out more, leading to an improvement in condition, especially important for herring.
She cost 230m Danish Kroner – about £28m at today’s prices. It is a massive investment for the Serene Fishing Company and its owners, who include Polson senior, his son Bobby, sisters Margaret, Roslyn and Janet, brother Leonard Polson, ship’s mate Tommy Eunson, Gilbert Williamson, George Polson and Brian Sutherland.
The Serene crew have not been fishing for 18 months so were understandably keen to get cracking with their massive and impressive ship, whose hull has built in Poland before fitting in Karstensens.
Some of the visitors thought she was the finest fitted out ship they had seen in years. The amount of space on deck, in the wheelhouse and in the accommodation is probably greater than any other pelagic trawler in the UK fleet and the wheelhouse is typically laid out like something from Star Trek with much of the equipment from Furuno.
The huge trawl nets came from Swan Net in Ireland, and a Norwegian company, and can both be used for herring or mackerel. The “cod ends” were made by KT Nets, also based in Ireland.
Serene is 17.2m in breadth and has 2,900 cubic metres of RSW tank capacity. She is powered by MAN main and auxiliary engines and Brunvoll thrusters. Her deck gear was supplied by Karmoy Winch.
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