The UK’s Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (KEIFCA) has ordered a 17m GRP Blyth Workcat for use when monitoring fishing activities around the Kent and Essex coasts.
The authority has specified a durable craft capable of operating in extreme offshore conditions while undertaking a wide range of tasks relating to the monitoring of fish stocks and the supervision of fishing activities. It will be used for patrolling an area of over 3,412m2 - extending from the east end of Rye Bay in Kent to the northern boundary of Essex on the River Stour.
The new patrol boat will be employed in monitoring the wide range of commercial and recreational fishing activities within the region. These include trawling, pair trawling, drift/fixed netting, potting, scallop and oyster dredging and cockle dredging. Trawlers and netters in the region land a variety of fish including sole, plaice, dab, bass, cod, herring, sprat and thornback rays. Other vessels within the district also land scallops, oysters, whelks, lobster and, to a lesser extent, mussels and crab. Sea angling is also an important recreation in the area.
With a beam of 6.53m, the new patrol boat will provide spacious fore and aft decks and will be equipped with and a net and pot hauler that will be used for monitoring fish stocks. A hydraulic A-frame will be a key feature of the aft deck and will be used by the KEIFCA crew for a variety of tasks including the monitoring of shellfish and seabed conditions.
The vesselis being built at the Blyth Workcats yard on Canvey Island, Essex and delivery is scheduled for spring 2015.
