 |
||||||||||||||||
  AG Neovo SX-Series displays help lead today's modern fishing vessels to safer fishing spots and better catches. At a Glance - Fishing into the 21st Century On January 30th 2009, the Pleiades BF-155 berthed for the first time at bustling Fraserburgh Harbour. Although the 17.5 metre trawler was docking empty at the largest shellfish port in Europe, the ship would soon be making regular returns to Fraserburg brimming with fresh fish and prawn—up to six tonnes already weighed, packed, labelled and destined for the markets. This efficiency and effectiveness is just one of the Pleiade's standout features, a boat specially designed to be the first in a new breed of fishing vessels for the 21st century. The Pleiades is the fourth fishing vessel owned and operated by Garry and Philip Hepburn, brothers in a family of professional fishermen dating back to their great-grandfather. Over the decades, generations of Hepburns have among the first to take advantage of technology as it revolutionised the fishing industry, making vessels more advanced, fishing more effective and the work, though still difficult, safer and easier. In early 2008, the Hepburn brothers decided to continue this trend, placing an order for a new vessel to be custom-built by Parkol Marine Shipyard, then outfitted by McMinn Marine with a state-of-the-art electronic system. One that includes AG Neovo SX-Series Displays. The Environment - One Wheelhouse to Watch it All  A fishing vessel is an astoundingly multifaceted environment. It is at once a home and shelter to its crew, a transportation vehicle, a fish storage unit, a processing and packing facility—not to mention a massive, complex piece of fishing equipment. A boat like the Pleiades has fully stocked kitchen and dining facilities, quarters for crew, fishroom, fresh water reservoir and more, all carefully integrated into a single, seaworthy design.However, of all these facilities, none seems as vital and none has benefited as much from modern technology as the wheelhouse. In today's fishing vessels, the skipper watches over everything from this central command centre: from the crew on the ship deck, to the schools of fish fathoms under the sea, to the storm cloud systems hundreds of kilometres away. Sonar, Radar, SAT-C, Trawl/Net Monitoring systems, Plotters, Computers and even a TV screen lay across the wheelhouse consoles. The electronics systems that run and operate these wheelhouses are not only state-of-the-art, they have to be durable enough to operate in the harsh, volatile weather of northern Scotland where high humidity, below-zero weather, salty air and unstable, violent rocking of the sea threaten to throw things awry. This is the environment where AG Neovo is fast becoming the preferred display-brand of choice. The Opportunity - Building on Experience All the vessels that the Hepburns have fished together over a 19-year period have been named Pleiades BF-155 in honour of a steam drifter owned by their great-grandfather in the 1930s. Early in their careers the brothers fished older, smaller class boats, including one built in 1958. However, they learnt early on that maintaining an older vessel was expensive due to repairs and lost fishing time. By 2000, with enough experience and confidence in hand, they took the next step to grow their business: rather than buy a bigger boat, they went ahead and built it. The new Pleiades was 20% more fuel efficient and had 20% more catching capability. More importantly, it never broke down and no fishing time was lost. For six-plus years they enjoyed trouble-free fishing, managing to make through even the sky-high oil prices in the early 2000s. Then in 2008, the Hepburns saw another opportunity in the booming market, and decided again that the time was right for a new boat—one even more efficient, effective and advanced. Page 1 / 2 / Next |
  Quick Facts Environment The state-of-the-art wheelhouse of the newly-built Pleaides BF-155, the first of a new standard in modern fishing vessels. Display Solution Nine 17" and two 15" SX-Series mounted in the wheelhouse that display data on ship, weather, sea and more. Top Benefits
|
