Shetland fishermen are making two 3,500 mile journeys to bring home new whitefish boats.
A Shetland fishing crew is currently making its way from the Croatian city of Pula to Shetland’s capital Lerwick with the first 82ft long whitefish boat Copious.
Members of the new vessel are accompanied by other experienced fisherman including John William Simpson from Whalsay.
On the boat are also the new crew of the Prolific, another boat to later make this epic 16-day-journey.
‘Pretty bad weather’
Mr Simpson admits it took longer to get going than expected: due to dirty fuel, bad weather and the notoriously unlucky Friday 13.
He said: “We were here a week before we left, we had a bit of a false start, we steamed 50 miles then we had to turn back with dirty fuel.
“Then it looked like we’d only get left on Friday, but it was Friday 13, we didn’t think we could chance that, so we waited until 1am.
“We’re constantly looking at forecasts, we had some pretty bad weather in the Mediterranean, which I didn’t really expect.”
The journey has led to unique memories, from witnessing an erupting volcano to monkeys in Gibraltar which Mr Simpson joked he’d like to take back to Shetland.
“We came across some beautiful scenery, a really narrow bit between Sicily and the toe of the boot, then we came by the Stromboli volcano with the lava coming out.
“We couldn’t get photos of it because the weather was so bad, we were all just crammed around one window, then when we got south by Majorca we had good weather.
“We were in Gibraltar for more than half a day to get fuel and take in the sights, including the monkeys.
“They are wild animals at the end of the day, so we were told to kind of be careful, but one ended up going on my head, I’d like to have taken one home with me.”
‘Incentive to keep on keeping on’
Mark Anderson, skipper of the Prolific and Mr Simpson were in agreement that this journey is the longest distance they’ve been with a fishing vessel.
Mr Anderson who is from Skeld, feels there are some challenges for the industry, but he’s keen to pass it down to his children.
He said: “I’ve been at the fishing for 35 years, in the decommission in 2002-2003 a lot of the fleet was taken out then, but really since then we’ve had pretty good fishing.
“They do try their best to stop you from catching anything, the stocks in the sea are good, but there’s an awful percentage less quota available now as there was even at the time of the decommission.
“I have two boys here and my daughter’s partner works with us too, so all three of my bairns are involved, so that’s another incentive to keep on keeping on.
“Fish is a good, healthy thing to be eating and it’s harvested very sustainably nowadays.”
Mr Simpson added that they hope to have the Copious home ahead of Up Helly Aa, while the Prolific is set to make its way to Shetland from Croatia in the summer.
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