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New Fisheries Protection Vessel
15/08/2003
The new Fisheries Protection Vessel (FPV) Minna - a 47.5
metre ship, built by Fergusons of Port Glasgow - was
officially commissioned today.
Minna, the third FPV to be named after the heroine in
Sir Water Scott's novel The Pirate, will police the
Scottish Zone of British Fishery limits for the next 25
years.
She will be manned by a crew of 15 and carry out regular
21-day patrols monitoring the activities of EU fishing
vessels and enforcing fisheries laws as necessary in the
waters around Scotland.
Environment Minister Ross Finnie said:
"Commissioning the third FPV Minna brings the fleet back
up to four vessels and allows FPV Westra to go into well
deserved retirement after 28 years service.
"The work of the Fisheries Protection Agency is crucial
in protecting and conserving fish stocks in order that the
industry might have a sustainable future.
"The ship and her crew, with such a distinguished
pedigree behind them, will fare well in the years ahead.
Built on the Clyde by a skilled and well managed workforce,
I anticipate the MINNA will have a long and trouble free
life of service to the monitoring and enforcement
task."
Minna is a diesel electric powered patrol vessel capable
of 14 knots. The fish ship of that name was built in 1901
by Murdoch and Murray of Port Glasgow for the then Fishery
Board for Scotland and was the first vessel in the Board's
fleet to be fitted with Radio Telegraph equipment.
Requisitioned in 1914 by the Royal Navy for wartime
duties she was returned in 1919 to the Board's service and
was decommissioned 1939.
The second Minna was built by William Denny and Bros Ltd
of Dumbarton in 1939. Immediately requisitioned by the
Royal Navy until 1946, the ship patrolled the West Coast of
Scotland until 1974 when she was replaced by the
Westra.
The Fisheries Protection Agency operates four ships in
Scottish waters - the Sulisker, Vigilant, Norna and Minna.
The Agency's marine staff complement is 130 in total.
A replacement for Sulisker, now the oldest vessel in the
fleet, is planned.