St Helena’s very own offshore fishing vessel – in pictures

MFV Extractor arrives in James Bay. Click to pic to see a gallery of images by Bruce Salt

A large crowd of wellwishers gathered at the wharf in Jamestown to greet the arrival of the St Helena’s first island-owned offshore fishing vessel on 19 April 2014. A new company, Saint Marine Resources, was set up in January 2014 to buy and refit the trawler in Hout Bay, South Africa. The long-sought vessel will enable the island to exploit the rich fishing areas around its sea mounts.

Click here to see a gallery of images by Bruce Salt.

A press release said:

MFV Extractor Arrived Safely in James Bay at 17:30hrs on Saturday 19 April.

Approximately 200 people turned up at the wharf to welcome the crew back, and they were given a brief demonstration of the vessel’s handling ability whilst awaiting clearance by Customs and Immigration officials.

Once ashore, the lead skipper, Trevor (Otto) Thomas, and crew members Waylon Thomas, Peter Benjamin, Errol Thomas, and Terry Richards, were presented with a St Helena “blue ensign” for the MFV Extractor by Councillor Lawson Henry, chairman of the Economic Development Committee.

During a small welcoming reception for the crew held at the St Helena Yacht Club shortly afterwards, Councillor Henry spoke about the significance of the Extractor’s arrival in St Helena, noting that when we talk about achieving economic growth for the island it is steps such as this that island needs to be taking.

About Simon Pipe

I'm a former journalist and part-time university teacher, now working in a role combining environment and disability. I spend the rest of the time dancing, gardening, and walking/running on long-distance challenge events. I was a senior broadcast journalist at the BBC and a reporter, sub-editor and feature writer on newspapers before that. For five years I ran St Helena Online, a news website about the remote British island in the South Atlantic, at www.sthelenaonline.org - now redesigned by a new owner.

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