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Oct. 10, 2000

Newfoundland Longliner/Trawler Built for Quality Catches

The "Stephanie Colleen" is a 65x23.5-foot multi-purpose boat. Powered by a Cummins KTA19 M3 with a heavy duty rating of 640 HP at 1800 RPM. Her ZF BW191 gear, with 5.138:1 reduction turns a five-inch shaft. The hull’s 12-foot moulded depth allows for19,000 cubic feet of fish hold. Owner Clarence Andrews of Bareneed Newfoundland took delivery of the boat this past June from TWL Enterprise in Trinity Bay and put her right out onto the grounds. By the end of September, she had put a good tally of hours on her main engine and her skipper, David Croft, was more than happy with the boat and with her catches.

In a typical year, the boat will fish from the first of April to the end of November. The year starts with shrimp trawl season. Andrews had the new boat equipped with a Rice propeller and speed nozzle for maximum towing power in this fishery. Skipper Croft, who fishes with five crew, explains that they tow a 970 Nordsea trawl with 125 to 136 feet between the doors and a 22 to 25 feet of rise on the head rope. The boat is equipped with a NetMinder system that includes sensors on the head rope and doors as well as a catch sensor in the cod end. This allows the gear to be hauled back when the catch reaches 2500 pounds which is optimum for quality and still allows the bag to be lifted over the stern without having to split. Onboard, the shrimp are loaded into 25-pound nylon mesh bags and stowed in ice. The boat fishes shrimp in two zones. In one they have a 240,000 pound vessel quota with a 50,000 pound trip limit. The other area is an open competitive fishery.

After the shrimp, the boat puts on longline gear to fish Big Eye and Yellow fin tuna and swordfish. The tuna predominate in May, June and July with the swordfish more evident in the late summer. Working with a single monofilament longline, they set up to 40 miles of line per night and fish it at depths from four to ten fathoms with ganions set 25 fathoms apart. Depending on the season and target species they will start setting the gear around 5:00 PM and, moving at their 8.5-knot cruising speed, have the gear out by 10:00. A radio beacon buoy that transmits for one minute every three, is set every ten miles with radar reflective buoys set in between. A strobe light is fixed to the end buoy and the gear is left to drift before being hauled back over six or seven hours in the morning. The fish are gutted on deck and iced in the hold. A refrigeration system running off a Cummins 6B powered 95 Kw Onan gen set keeps the holds at 34 degrees F. providing lots of ice for 18 day trips. Ship service and backup is provided by a Cummins 4B-powered 45 Kw gen set.

With long runs to the fishing grounds and a 5000 gallon fuel capacity, fuel economy is important. Andrews feels that he gets this with the KTA19 and is able to enhance the economy with the speed nozzle and by operating at a conservative 1550 RPM cruising speed. In late September, the boat had just returned from a trip 530 miles off shore. Asked if he had seen the perfect storm, Croft, who has fished since he was eleven and skippered for 17 years, replied, "Yes I saw it in the theatre and I’ve been in it at sea."

Following the longline season, the boat switches gear again to take part in the snow crab fishery. The hold, which has been used with ice and refrigeration, is flooded with refrigerated salt water for crab. RSW systems are relatively new to the Newfoundland fishery. "With the fishery going to quota, I know what I’m going to catch so quality is what will make my revenue better," says Andrews.

With the better part of a season on the engine Andrews is pleased with his choice. "I had a Cummins on another boat, then a different make on my last boat. I came back to the KTA19 for the increased horse power. Friends had the engine and recommended it and the service."

While Clarence Andrews changed engines from his last boat to his new boat, he didn’t change names. His last boat was named after his two daughters and he has brought the name onto the new "Stephanie Colleen".

For more information call:

Mr. Clarence Andrews
Bareneed, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, CA
Phone: 709 786-6608 Fax: 709 786-1833 Cell: 709 682-6122

or:

Mr. Wilson Nokey
TWL Enterprise, Trinity
Trinity Bay, Newfoundland

or:

Harris Mosdell
Sales Representative
Cummins Eastern Canada Inc.
122 Clyde Avenue, Mount Pearl
NFLD A1N 4S3, Canada
Phone: 709-747-0176 Fax: 409-747-2283

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