Trawlers Hired From Britain

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32052, 29 July 1969, Page 1

Trawlers Hired From Britain

(New Zealand Press Association) NELSON, July 28. Two 126 ft British trawlers may be working from Nelson by the end of the year, and orders are to be placed for 70ft fishing vessels to augment their catch.

This was said today by Mr; J. N. Dalboff, a principal of I Wonc’erfoods, Ltd, the firm! which took over the former NX Sea Products factory at; Nelson. Wonderfoods would send a crew to Britain in a day or! two to bring back the first of; these trawlers, which would arrive in less than three: months, Mr Dalhoff said from Wellington in a telephone interview. The second trawler should arrive two or three months later. Both were big Grimsby trawlers which had been used for fishing in the North Sea. They would be brought to New Zealand on charter with Wonderfoods having the right to purchase them. Wonderfoods this week expected to place an order for the first of a small fleet of New Zealand-made 70ft fishing boats. The Government had refused permission for the company to charter “quite a fleet” of 70ft fishing vessels from South Korea, Mr Dalhoff said. The South Koreans had

been prepared to send the boats out at two days notice, ihe said. I Marine Department appro- ; val had just been received to ! bring out the Grimsby trawlers. They would be based in i Nelson, but would go “where the fish are” for the catches. They were not new vessels, and his company hesitated to buy them immedi- . ately. “We are not quite convinced that the type of vessel is the most suitable, because nobody here has yet caught sufficient fish.” The 138 ft Sea Harvester i trawlers were too big and too : costly to run, and insufficient • fish could be caught by small | trawlers. •; The Grimsby trawlers would carry about 16 men, he said. They would be seeking table fish, so that the company could acquire the export • business built by Sea Pro- . ducts.