Daisy Christiane, the Sara Cathryn Stevenson and the
Basil St Clair Stevenson, all owned by W Stevenson & Sons - WS
&S - are to be decommissioned in a move by the Government to
conserve Western Channel Dover sole stocks by scrapping eight South
West boats and compensating the owners.
"Changes must now be made to welcome a leaner, more efficient fleet," said Elizabeth Stevenson of WS
&S.
Two
similar big beam trawlers - Catear and Our Johanna, owned by Leach
Fishing Enterprises of Shoreham but working from Brixham - are already
berthed at the breaker's yard and Brixham-owned beam trawler De Vrouw
Marie is soon to set sail.
Plymouth's Joy Of Ladram, owned by
Waterdance Ltd, plus Brixham boats Jacoba, owned by Langdon &
Blower, and Magdalena, owned by Langdon & Philip Wholesale Fish
Merchants Ltd, complete the list of Westcountry boats chosen by Defra
to be decommissioned. Boats like Daisy Christiane and De Vrouw Marie
have for many years made their mark.
Originally
named Anna Margretha and built at the Haap Scheepswerft yard in Holland
in 1975, the newly-named Daisy Christiane was bought around 20 years
ago by the Brixham-based Rae family, then by WS &S around 1993.
Elizabeth Stevenson explained: "I went
aboard the Daisy a few years before and sat in the skipper's seat. I
turned to my father Billy and said that one day I would like to see a
boat like her bearing our colours.
"He replied, 'one day you
will' and little did I know that she would one day be ours. Perhaps
from today onwards more dreams will come true; if not, it won't be for
the lack of trying.
"Obviously the family have mixed feelings on
a day we see three vessels leave our fleet. It's part of a
restructuring programme for WS &S, one that began last year.
"The boats have been
important both for the family business and the South West fishing
industry and we hope this day will help toward WS &S being here for
many years to come.
"We have a few
hurdles to cross and quite what the future holds for us is unsure, but
there is no question that the firm will move on - we have to change
with the times and nothing is ruled out. Daisy has been very
successful, but over the past few years the manning requirements and
bureaucracy needed to keep her at sea have been overwhelming. Many
times those rules have kept her against the wall, and such losses are
far too high."
Newlyn skipper David Hooper, who until his
retirement eight months ago was master of the Daisy Christiane, said:
"I was delighted to come out of retirement and with my crewmen take her
on the final trip. But I'm bound to feel strange when I walk off the
boat at New Holland - I won't like it.
"She has earned us good wages for a long time and the only thing I'm glad about is that I won't see her being cut up.
"But
with rising expenses and more rules stacking up it makes it difficult
for this sector of the industry to continue. The big boats have had
their day."
article copyright Phil Lockley for the WESTERN MORNING NEWS