Working Together is the Future

Several years ago, Stichting Masterplan Duurzame Visserij (in English: Foundation Master Plan for Sustainable Fisheries; MDV) was founded to research the possibilities for much needed innovations in the Dutch fishery industry.

The objective of the foundation is to develop an economically and environmentally sustainable way to increase possible earnings in the (flatfish) fisheries. At this moment the construction of the pilot vessel is in the final phase.

Around five years ago the knowledge group ‘smart entrepreneurship’ in the Dutch fishing village Urk decided it was time for radical changes in the fishing industry. Frans Veenstra, innovation manager at MDV: “Their conclusion was that the current changes in the fishing industry were too small-scaled to achieve a positive and sustainable earning model. In their opinion the entire fishing fleet needed an update with a new vessel type, yet to be designed. Requirements for the vessel were that it had to be provably sustainable, have better and more economic fishing methods and cut back on fuel consumption with 80 per cent.” Not the least of requirements.

Three phases

Bert de Vries, sector manager at Netherlands Maritime Technology: “The project of the design and construction of a pilot vessel that could meet all those requirements has
been divided in three phases. We, as Holland Shipbuilding Association at that time, were involved from 2012, during the first and second phase, bringing our knowledge and network of shipbuilding associates.”

Veenstra adds: “The ideas and advices from the work field presented during these first consultations were very diverse, because it consisted of fishermen, consultancy as well as accountancy, which made the process very interesting. In the first phase, the goal was to get enough support for such a project and vessel in the industry including governments and NGOs, in which we succeeded.”

That is why phase two took off shortly after. De Vries: “In this phase eight different work groups were established, which researched the feasibility of the project. We coordinated the technology work group.” Eventually, the third phase started in 2013.

De Vries: “With the support of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which subsidises the project with a funding of two million Euros from the European Fisheries Fund, the design of the vessel now has to be proven.”

Cooperation

“Before we started with the design and construction, we had to find an owner and entrepreneur; in short a fisherman. The fishing families Kramer and Romkes decided to support the idea of a totally new vessel. These two families will exploit the pilot vessel during the three years of investigation and produce scientific data concerning behaviours of the ship itself and the new fishing method. For those three years we have designed some research plans, to see if the vessel is working as expected, to research the actual results and to be able to make recommendations for the vessels that will be built after the pilot vessel”, says Veenstra.

The goal of the foundation is to eventually replace all flatfish fishing vessels with this new design.

A unique and innovative part of this project is the fact that two fishing families together will exploit one vessel.

Veenstra: “I think there is a bright future when smaller fishing companies work together to achieve sustainable and profitable fisheries.” De Vries agrees: “In my opinion the fishery has to act together in order to give the industry a better future.”

Five cornerstones

Veenstra explains that the design of the pilot vessel is based on five cornerstones: the design of the hull, the fishing technique, the fish processing method on board, the energy management and the use of composite materials, which will make the difference between this vessel and any other fishing vessel.

The design of the vessel has been developed by Dutch Padmos in cooperation with Kramer Marine Engineering and Spanish design agency D3. The vessel is smaller than usual and also weighs less.

Veenstra: “We have made some changes in the steel construction of the vessel. Furthermore, we investigated the hull form optimisation in cooperation with MARIN to see if we can decrease the resistance of the vessel, without compromising its sailing behaviour, which has resulted in a vessel of around 31 metres long.”

To reduce the resistance even more the vessel is equipped with a semi axe bow.

Twin rig pulse

The most notable innovation is the development of a new fishing technique, the twin rig pulse fishing. The pilot vessel will be the first vessel that is going to put this technique to effect.

De Vries: “The fishing methods that are often used to catch flatfish are beam trawl fishery or pulse trawl fishery. The aim is to combine the pulse fishing method and the twin rig method into one fishing technique, the twin rig pulse. However, in order to use the pulse method the government had to give permission, which the project has received.”

“The twin rig pulse method leads to a lot of advantages”, Veenstra explains the choice for a new fishing method.

“To catch both plaice and sole beam trawl is a well-known technique, but the beam trawl method is a fuel consuming technique because of the weight of the equipment. The equipment of the new method weights significantly less and there is a possibility that fishermen are now able to catch plaices and soles, which was not possible by using only the twin rig technique.”

Processing on board

In cooperation with Leba Metaalbewerking, the Netherlands, an automated gutting machine was developed to be used on the pilot vessel. With this machine 1,800 plaices can be processed in one hour. The machine will be integrated in the processing equipment on board of the vessel, after it has been thoroughly tested. De Vries: “A current European regulation development is the ban on by-catch, which will lead to a lot of logistical problems for fishermen. Therefore, we are also thinking of testing a survival tank for the by-catch and see if this can be a solution.”

80 per cent reduction

The fourth cornerstone is the energy management of the vessel. The vessel will be equipped with diesel-electric propulsion systems amongst others. Veenstra: “We aim to
a decrease in the fuel consumption of 80 per cent. The existing cutters can consume up to 40,000 litres of fuel every week. With the development of the pulse fishing technique this number has been halved. With our pilot ship we expect to have a fuel consumption of less than 6,000 litres per week. A tremendous improvement.”

He continues: “The last cornerstone was to build the wheelhouse of composite. However, because of governmental regulations we were not able to incorporate innovative technique into the current construction process. We still hope to manage to integrate the composite element while building the follow up vessels.”

Final stage

On 30 January 2015 the vessel was launched at C.S.R. Rotterdam, after which she was shipped to Hoekman Shipbuilding in Urk. Here the final stage of the building process will be completed. When everything continues according to plan, the vessel will make her technical sea trial in May 2015.

Veenstra: “It is nice to see how involved and professionally interested parties are gaining more and more trust in the performance of the fishing vessel. Both generations, the young and the more experienced, in the fishing communities are anxious to see if we could really realise what we promised, for now they can follow the present activities with their own eyes.”

Anne Kregting