Isles fishermen vie for pelagic award

TWO Shetland locals have been pitted against each other in the pelagic fisherman category for this year’s UK-wide Fishing News awards.

Adenia skipper George Anderson and Lowrie Irvine, of Antares Fishing Company, are the only two nominees for the pelagic award.

Shetland also enjoys a strong overall presence in the nominations for the awards ceremony, which takes place on 25 May in Aberdeen.

Richie Simpson from LHD is one of five industry figures up for the lifetime achievement award.

Copious skipper Andrew White and Valhalla’s Ivan Garriock will vie for the demersal fisherman of the year prize, while Richard Grains of the Valentia is up for the shellfish equivalent.

The Antares and the Resilient are shortlisted for the new boat of the year category and Courageous’ Christopher Irvine is up for the young fisherman award.

Scalloway is nominated for the fishing port of the year prize, with Fishing News hailing the “very positive” news that the fish market is set to undergo a £3 million development.

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The NAFC Marine Centre in Scalloway is also nominated for the contribution to safety award for its “vital” training and research.

Shetland Fishermen’s Association’s Simon Collins told BBC Radio Shetland that the large number of nominations shows the talent and progressive thinking of local crews.

“All these nominations kind of reflect firstly Shetland’s place – it’s right in the middle of the UKs fishing grounds, so we’ve got a big industry here. It’s the second biggest landing port of the whole of the UK, so you kind of expect a good representation,” he said.

“But also some of these awards also reflect innovation. It’s not just vessels, it really comes down to the skippers as well and the crews. We’ve got a whole bunch forward-looking skippers and crews out there as well.”