CAUGHT IN THE NET WITH DICK SAWLE
A Report for FIBS by Corina Goss (CG) 08 October 2004
The Fishing Vessel, New Polar was in port last week. On Friday, a reception was held onboard. I went along to have a look at the vessel. And, on Sunday, the Managing Director of Polar (DS) came into the Studio to tell me more.
CG: Dick, you are managing director of Polar, thank you for joining me in the Studio today.
DS: Thank you very much for inviting me along.
CG: Now, one of the main reasons we are here today is to discuss your company’s purchase of a new vessel, which you call the New Polar. But before we go into that, maybe you could give us a bit of the history of the background to Polar and who you are.
DS: We started off with Seaview Limited, which is the local partner in Polar in 1989. At that time, I was acting as agent for about 17 fishing vessels and three or four reefer vessels. And, I had as fishing partners a group called ASPE, which is a group of seven Spanish Companies. Over time things changed and the seven Spanish Companies dwindled down to one, which was Pesca Nova and Seaview became Pesca Nova’s partner in the Falklands. This is cutting a very long story very short. We now have a company, which is 50 % owned by Seaview and has been for some time now, and 50% owned by Pesca Nova. There are three vessels, Sil, the Robin M. Lee, which we own as well with Nova Seafish and now, we have the New Polar, which has replaced the Polar Fury.
CG: From a Seaview point of view, what is your input into Polar Limited?
DS: I suppose our main aim really is access to fisheries in the South West Atlantic. We also do all the local management of the vessel. Added to that, we do all the accounting for the vessels. We send off regular stock exchange reports. We are a Pesca Nova Quoted Company, so we do all that side of it. We also manage the vessels, really while they are fishing down here. If they are fishing in the Northern Hemisphere, they are Pesca Nova’s responsibility more than ours. And, if they are in the Southern Hemisphere they are our responsibility, not Pesca Nova’s. But that’s very generalised. It’s not always like that. For example, the stuff that is specific to British regulations English rules and so on, we look after, whether it’s hygiene or whether it’s MCA requirements.
CG: How do those regulations slot in with perhaps Spanish regulations?
DS: They are very similar but they are not the same. The 1975 fishing vessel safety rules, for example, is a British law but there are other ordinances, which cover international safety at sea - the SOLAS Convention, for example - which the UK is a signatory as well. They are very similar but of course, when you do things for the MCA, you have to do them all, for a start, in English and also, if you like, in English format. They are very keen on seeing that and not in Spanish format.
CG: What about the legal requirements for the vessel? Whose law governs what happens onboard? For example, if somebody was hurt, whose health and safety rules would they be? Would they be Falkland Islands, British, would they be Spanish?
DS: It’s a Falkland Islands registered company - Polar Limited. It’s a Falkland Islands registered vessel, so the laws that would apply would be Falkland Islands laws. That would be my understanding but a keen, sharp lawyer might disagree. As far as I am aware, it would be Falkland Islands law. There are other laws, which affect the high seas, for example, as to what you can do on the high seas and what you can’t do on the high seas. Those, I would imagine, would also be in place above and beyond Falkland Islands law.
CG: You mentioned the three vessels. Who are the crew and where do they come from?
DS: The crew are a mixture of Spanish and Chilean crew. The mix is about 50/50. Most of the officers are Spanish and most of the senior deck crew are Spanish as well. The rest of the crew are made up of Chileans. But crew are becoming increasingly hard to find these days. One of my recent tasks, in fact, was a trip to Eastern Europe to try and source crew. I am happy to say that we found a large number of crew that we’ve got access to in the future, which is good news to have a well-qualified and experienced crew.
CG: One of the main reasons you are here is to talk about the new vessel, the New Polar. Tell me a little bit about the technical side of the ship.
DS: The ship’s just under 2000 GMT. She can carry 58 crew, she’s got 4000 horse power main engines. 1000 of that horsepower is used to drive the refrigeration equipment and other ancillary equipment onboard. She’s 74.5 metres long, 12.5 metres wide, 5.5 metres draft, very similar to a lot of the other vessels in terms of size that are here fishing for Loligo. She can catch and freeze about 60tonnes a day. Unfortunately, we haven’t actually tested that, as the squid stocks are somewhat sparse at the moment. And, she’s a very capable vessel, a multi-role vessel. She can have three nets on the go (not at the same time) and can switch between nets very quickly. She has the very latest, innovative equipment up on the bridge, which is also supplied by a company called Multi-cal. The main engine is supplied by a company called Wartsila, which is a heavy fuel engine, which should lead to economies of fuel consumption and cost. The factory deck is by a Norwegian Company called Optimar. It’s the very latest in hygiene, it’s the very latest in fish-handling techniques and weighing techniques. We have a database, which can tell you where you caught each individual fish and when you froze it. And, you can basically put information on to each package of fish you produce that can trace it right back to the position and so on. The list is really endless - the innovations we have on this vessel.
You’ve got a lot of vessels leaving shipyards that are modern vessels in the sense that they have recently been built. Lots of them are using old equipment. There’s nothing particularly wrong with that but in this case with this vessel, it’s very much a research and development vessel. For example, we have sonar, which looks down the net to see what you’ve got in the net, which is completely wireless. Many have cable, which can kill birds. So, we are the very first vessel ever in the world to be fitted with a wireless net sonar.
These, of course, bring with them a few little glitches. The last two weeks we’ve been fishing - really a mixture of fishing and sea trials and we had one or two little hick-ups, which, I am glad to say we have sorted out.
CG: What kind of hick-ups?
DS: Normal every day things that are brand new that don’t work as you expected them to do. We’ve had quite a few technicians fly in to spend time at sea on the vessel. They have looked at things, they have tweaked things - getting the images better on the screens and so on - all that sort of minor stuff but interesting nevertheless.
CG: Why did the Company decide that now was the time to invest in a new vessel?
DS: I suppose one of the major factors was the huge increase in fuel prices, which is a real killer. And, what we needed was a vessel that was going to be more fuel-efficient. It was a combination of circumstances, there wasn’t one thing that lead to the decision to rush out and build a new ship but it was one of the major contributors to the decision to go for this new vessel.
So, we went for a heavy fuel engine instead of normal marine gas-oil style engine, which means that the price we pay for the fuel should be considerably cheaper than the price paid for MGO.
CG: Does that mean therefore that you are going to be emitting more fumes or pollution? When you day heavy fuel it kind of makes you think that.
DS: Perhaps that’s a misnomer. It doesn’t mean anything like that at all. It’s a very efficient engine and an extremely clean engine as well. The only difference between heavy fuel oil and marine gas-oil is basically that marine gas-oil is more refined than heavy fuel oil. And, there are many, many ships that use heavy fuel oil. Some of the very large ones use it and some trawlers down here have been using heavy fuel oil for years. That’s nothing new. That’s not new technology. But the engine itself is new, so it is more efficient than an old one.
CG: So, the vessel is newly built. Where did she come from?
DS: The vessel was built in Vigo, Galicia, Northern Spain. The hull had been there for some years and had basically been a hull looking for a purpose. There had been various ideas of using this hull for various types of things. Actually, at one stage, I even put it to the Government here that they might like to use it as a patrol vessel. At the end of the day, we took the hull and built a brand-new trawler out of it.
CG: After work was completed, did she come straight here, or did she go elsewhere?
DS: She came straight down here to the Falklands from the shipyard and started fishing almost immediately.
CG: So, do you actually spend much time onboard the vessel yourself?
DS: No. I have spent quite a lot of time with that particular vessel over the last 18 months in Vigo. I haven’t spent much time at sea on her at all. None, in fact, as yet but I am very pleased to say it looks like it would take me very nicely.
CG: What about the crew? Have you had any feedback from them about whether they are enjoying the conditions onboard?
DS: Yes. Actually, I spent a lot of time the other night talking to them because some of the crew are actually new to us as a company. They are delighted with it, they are very happy, it’s a very comfortable ship, it’s a very clean ship but it’s a very happy ship as well. The cook, for example, used to be a deck hand and we were short of a cook one day and he said he knew how to cook, so he became a cook. But he’s been off on cookery courses. He did all the catering for the reception the other night and I think we would all agree that he did an excellent job. He’s very happy with his nice, new kitchen.
CG: How did the reception go?
DS: I think it was very good. I very well enjoyed it. I think people enjoyed tours around the vessel. And, I think also having crew with responsibilities in various areas leading the tours helps as well because it means you’ve got first-hand knowledge. It was good to be shown around those things by those people.
CG: The vessel is flagged now. Where has she gone?
DS: As soon as we cleared the tables and things away, the ship went to Montevideo until we find another fishing activity for her, which should be later on this year.
CG: And, did you check for stow-aways before you left?
DS: No. We didn’t actually, and oddly enough, we didn’t leave anyone behind, either. I think they were all keen to get back onboard. You saw for yourself, it’s very well appointed.
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