...and a satellite to steer her by

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34021, 10 December 1975, Page 2

...and a satellite to steer her by

' fFrom Our Own Reporter) NELSON, Dec. 9. ’ Samoa’s shoreline is about 400 yards out, according to Captain H. Medina, the master of the American tuna clipper Kerri M, which arrived in Nelson today.

Captain Medina made the observation while extolling the simplicity and accuracy of a satellite navigation terminal in his craft. The vessel, which has a crew of 16. is the second of four American ships which will fish for skipjack tuna under contract to the New Zealand Pelagic Fisheries Development Company. The navigation device, linked to satellite computers, was so accurate that it had shown charts of Samoa to be 400 yards out. said Captain Medina. ’Tve been checking out how you are here in New Zealand. You’re pretty right," he said. WALNUT PANELLING The Kerri M is more like a luxury yacht than a hardworking fishing boat. Her interior is panelled in wal-

nut, and she has an array of electronic and sonar aids. Her fishing equipment includes a purse-seine net three-quarters of a mile long and 350 ft deep. She can take up to 100 tonnes of fish in two hours and a half. Her storage capacity is 750 tonnes.

The vessel is part-owned by Captain Medina and part by the Starkist Company of California — and Captain Medina has plans to own the craft completely before long. Accompanying him as crew on the boat are three of his six sons (he also has two daughters): John, as deck hand, Gary as first mate, and Bill as "deck boss.” FISHING IN NORTH

The vessel will probably leave Nelson tomorrow to join the Michelangelo, a tuna clipper which arrived towards the end of last month, in fishing off the north of the North Island. The manager of the Pelagic Fisheries Development Company (Mr P. M. Vela) is reluctant to comment on th? activities of the vessels, and of the Michelangelo in particular. The Michelangelo had taken some fish, he admitted. A spotter aircraft working with the vessel was flying up to 11 hours a day. Ambassador. — Mr Bryce Harland, the New Zealand Ambassador to China, left • Peking for home today at the end of his term of office. - (P.A.).