Harbour News:October 2019
September has been a quieter month in lots of ways, whichhas given me a chance to catch my breath! The Marina is much quieter, and thedemand from fishing boats for ice has also slowed down a bit. We had trialledautomatic access to the ice plant at the start of September, but there arestill some issues with the delivery so this hasn’t been entirely successful.We’re still working with TRS to resolve the ongoing issues but it is causingquite a bit of frustration for us and the fishing fleet.
We’ve received the UK Sea Fisheries Statistics this month,which show the importance of the fishing industry in Scotland. In 2018, UKvessels landed 698 thousand tonnes of sea fish (including shellfish) into theUK and abroad with a value of £989 million. Landings by Scottish vessels werewell over 400 thousand tonnes in each of the last four years, a result ofincreased mackerel landings. In 2018, the Scottish fleet’s share of totallandings was 64 per cent, compared with 27 per cent for the English fleet. Ifanyone is interested, you can access the full report at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-sea-fisheries-annual-statistics-report-2018
The picture for Mallaig is not quite so rosy, and indeed, inJuly’s monthly report to the Board Members, I had to report that White fishlandings in July 2019 were only 3% of the landings in 2018, mainly due to farfewer visiting boats this summer. In July 2018, 105,000 units of fish werelanded by visiting boats, whereas the figure for this year was 212 units! Hopefullythis was an exceptionally low year, and won’t be repeated next summer!
We had a Board Meeting on 13th September, and as part of this, Donna Manson, the Chief Executive of The Highland Council came along to meet the Board and learn a bit about the Authority’s plans for development, whilst she was undertaking visits in the area anyway.
After the Board Meeting, the Directors had a farewell dinnerfor Robert MacMillan in the West Highland Hotel. Robert was presented with anaerial print of the Harbour, looking up to Loch Nevis and hospitality at aRangers Football match – now that he has time to enjoy a trip away!
The road at Westbay is progressing well, although theremight be a slight delay before the tar can be laid – due to other demands onthe tarring company.
We had two film crews around the Harbour this month. The BBCsent a cameraman from Autumnwatch to follow Martin Carty on his annualShearwater rescue. Unfortunately, it was calm and there was a full moon on thedays of filming, and the Shearwaters are less inclined to fledge in a fullmoon, so despite there having been plenty of activity the previous week, theShearwaters were a bit shier when the camera crew were here!
On 24th September, Young Films came over fromSkye to film a scene for the Gaelic drama ‘Bannan’. They were filming over lunchtime on the‘bandstand’ in the centre of the village, and on the ‘Lord of the Isles’ ontheir way back to Skye.
Mallaig Harbour Authority has received a final draft of theSTAG appraisal, which has been ongoing all year. STAG is short for ScottishTransport Appraisal Guidance, and this one has been looking at the options forferry infrastructure in both Mallaig and Armadale. There were initially 5options identified for Mallaig, but the final draft recognises that three ofthese are not realistic, and so has recommended that only two options goforward for further investigation. Oneof these two options closely aligns with the Harbour’s own Masterplan. We havea final meeting to agree the draft on the 8th October, so moreinformation will be available next month.
As part of my previous role with HIE, I was invited to sit on the Highland and Moray Fisheries Local Action Group, www.highlandmorayflag.co.uk, and I have been able to continue this role representing the Harbour Authority. Although the programme is coming to an end, there is still some funding left for projects led by community organisations or small businesses which provide a benefit to fisheries communities. You can find all the details on the website.
Jacqueline McDonell, CEO