The new Faroe pair trawlers ''Polarhav'' and ''Stjörnan'' are pioneering a new era of trawling with the installation of Scantrol''s new iSYM autotrawl system iSYM, according to a statement from Scantrol.
A radio link ensures important information is transferred between the vessels. Scantrol says it has taken years of research to reach introduction last year of intelligent symmetry control (iSYM).
The 'Polarhav' and 'Stjörnan' are 37m pair trawlers and they ordered the gear after the North Atlantic Fish Fair in 2003 and got the system on board in 2004. The skippers of 'Stjörnan' and 'Polarhav', respectively Janus Olsen and Jörmund Olsen, are pleased.
'The system is working like a charm and we are very happy with it. We depend on it in all weather conditions and only turn it off during really heavy storm weather,' says Janus Olsen.
'Polarhav' and 'Stjörnan' are the first to make use of iSYM to control engine power and auto pilot. This gives a constant bearing between the vessels full symmetry of the trawl during a haul.
The radio link passes winch data, vessel position, engine power and bearing between the two vessels. The system can be set up to make the winches of the slave vessel automatically follow those of the master, Scantrol says, adding that the skipper at all times has the information from the other vessel to hand. "Rather than spending his time controlling the winches or adjusting the vessel speed, bearing or heading the skipper can concentrate on more important tasks such as finding the fish,"it said.
A new screen layout is user friendly and the system can handle all types of winches (high pressure, medium pressure or low pressure hydraulic winches or AC/DC driven electrical winches). It is also easy to upgrade all types of existing autotrawls and installation takes only one day, the company says.
Smaller version
Scantrol says it is considering developing a smaller model of the system with a manual or semi-automatic control. This model will be able to transfer all data with a radio link and will hopefully be on the marked later this year.
Of course we are all familiar now with hotspot radio data transfer at places such as cybercafés and airports and the trick of using a Pringle crisps tube as a dirt cheap aerial to connect laptops and PCs without using cables and wires. The principle is the same here between the two trawlers
Radio Link means that important information can be transferred by a radio link. Snagdetector, automatic detection of fasteners -- reduces gear damage.
Trawl profiles, save settings for different gear and fishing grounds. Autoturn, which Scantrol says offers superb turn performance. Winch control, reliable and efficient control of hydraulic and electric winches. iSpool, computer controlled wire spooling -- perfect spooling. Winch response, adjusts winch sensitivity after weather conditions. History, simple access to historical data for analysing. Automatic engine control, for pair trawlers to gain full symmetry of the net. Automatic control of auto pilot, for pair trawlers to maintain distance/bearing. Scanmar connection, access to unfiltered data with quality control.
