fishing vessel

PNG gets second fishing vessel

The second fishing vessel to be given to Papua New Guinea by the European Economic Com munity berthed in Port Moresby on September 1. She is the Kulasi, which joins the Melisa which-arrived in March. Kulasi (the name means rock , in New Guinea pidgin), was built by Steelships Ltd., of Falmouth, England, a subsidiary of Cyg nus Marine.

Built to Lloyd’s specifica tions, Kulasi is 82ft long, carries 42 tonnes of fuel and 12 tonnes of water, giving her a cruising range of 7000 miles. The main engine is a 450 hp Caterpillar diesel and, like the Melisa, she is equipped with an impressive array of navigation and sonar fishing detection instruments.

The delivery voyage from Falmouth took 46 days. On board were delivery skipper Laurie Duncan, her future skip per Lars Jenssen, the repre sentative of Cygnus Marine, Jack Stoakes, and Dave Hart,

the engineer. Three Papuans flew to England to join the ship as part of their training prog ramme. These were Gea Gea Buia, the cook, Teka Kiegu, the second engineer, and Michael Kanolie, the bosun.

Travelling through the‘Gulf of Suez they saw 18 ships damaged mines and, since they had no way of detecting the weapons, were pleased to be clear all the area as quickly as possible, said Laurie.

Kulasi will be used as a fisheries research vessel work ing on reef research, hydrog raphic survey and the collection of oceanographic data. The vessel is fitted with an ice making machine capable of producing one tonne of ice per day from salt water. From this machine she will supply her own storage holds and also village fishing industries. On average she is expected to spend three weeks at a time at sea.