Page 48: of Marine News Magazine (November 2015)

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WORKBOAT CONSTRUCTION

Fishing Vessels: the Ultimate Workboats

The domestic commercial ? shing ? eet retools with state-of-the-art tonnage, supported by innovative ? nancing parameters. The toughest job on the planet just got a little easier.

By Kathy A. Smith he newbuild tide is turning for the U.S. commercial seafood valued at $5.5 billion. Alaska led the way, with ? shing industry, particularly for large, factory-type an eight percent volume increase and 11 percent value in-

Tvessels that work in federal waters off the coast of Alas- crease over 2012. And all of it puts a demand on the in- ka. The building of new vessels 165 feet and over was put on dustry to keep up.

hold for several years due to over-capitalization worries, par- ticularly in the Pollock trawl ? eet. However, during the past Meeting the Challenge ? ve years, Congress and NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries The new freezer longliners were designed by Crowley have eased up on statues and regulations to allow the replace- Maritime Corporation’s subsidiary Jensen Maritime Con- ment of the larger ? eet, many of which are over 40 years old. sultants. Northern Leader, a 184-foot, ABS-classed vessel

Since most ? eets are in a rationalized (set quota) ? sh- was built by the now-defunct J.M. Martinac Shipbuild- ery, having extra capacity to do more with the ? sh caught ing Corporation of Tacoma, Washington. The vessel also has become a driving factor in new vessel design. For ex- boasts the ? rst Z-drive/diesel-electric con? guration.

ample, and in 2013, two new high-tech vessels started ply- Northern Leader works in the North Paci? c, the Ber- ing northern waters, and in the same year, U.S commer- ing Sea and the Aleutian Islands, and can catch, freeze cial ? shermen landed an impressive 9.9 billion pounds of and process about 1,867,000 pounds of ? sh, with 76,800

Above left image: Ocean Peace during sponsoning showing the new bow being placed.

November 2015 48 MN

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