The largest producer of horse mackerel in Namibia, Namsov Fishing Enterprises and its joint venture partner, Labour Investment Holdings, took delivery of a 12-year-old stern trawler early in 2002. The French-built Twafika will be used to fish the 595t monk quota that was issued to the joint venture, Twafika Fishing Investments.
The total allowable catch (TAC) for the Namibian monk Lophius vomerinus fishery was set at 11 470t in 2001. Prior to 2001 the fishery was effort controlled; the number of vessels that were permitted to fish for monk was limited and a horse power restriction was imposed on these vessels. The establishment of a quota-controlled fishery means that it is now subject to a system of quota fees and levies.
A proportion of the monk TAC is reserved for the hake fishery which lands large quantities of monk as by-catch.
The Twafika was formerly active in the Spanish octopus fishery and was purchased in the Spanish fishing port of Vigo. According to Jan Arnold, managing director of Namsov Fishing Enterprises, the vessel is slightly bigger than is necessary for monk trawling, but the additional space has allowed the joint venture to install a spacious and efficient factory deck.
"We wanted a facility that would allow us to take as much value out of the fish as possible," said Arnold.
The monk's head constitutes two thirds of its body weight and the company is investigating ways of extracting previously underutilised "medallions" from the fish head.
Arnold expects that hake by-catch in the monk directed fishery will be between 20 and 30%. As a result the factory deck includes fish processing machinery that will allow for the production of frozen skin-on and skinless hake fillets.
Dimensions:
Length overall: 38.11m
Beam: 9.5m
Depth: 4m
Depth to main deck: 6.2m
Draught: 3.8m
Gross tonnage: 486t
Capacities
Hold: 210m3
Bunkers: 285m3
Steerage hold: 85m3
Oil: 6m3
Water: 10m3
Accommodation for 22 crew
Power
Deutz SBA 1020 HP at 1 500rpm main engine
Caterpillar 3306 auxiliary engine with transformers
Volvo TAMD 1221 auxiliary engine
Winches
Fishing winches with capacity for a spool of 2 100m of wire (24mm) and 200m of sweepline (40mm). Hydraulic functioning with Poclain motores. Two hydraulic pumps with variable flow Eaton pumps functioning by a PTO from the main engine and controlled by a hydraulic control from the same winch.
1 auxiliary winch Guria Che 2500, 25HP 1 000 rpm to give 2 500 kg at 27m/minute.
1 electric windlass for anchors
I electric and hydraulic servo-helm for 3t
Processing equipment
1 x Baader 181 filleting machine
1 x Baader 429 straight cut heading machine
