Next month the telemagenta Lottie Holly will work the mussel beds of Myti Mussels Ltd.
This will be the fifth new mussel dredger the firm has commissioned and the fourth from Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam, part of the Damen Shipyards Group.
In 1988, Myti Mussels purchased a Maaskant mussel winch in Stellendam, the Netherlands, for their first boat. Maaskant then delivered the 24 m BS-449 Mytilus in 1999, followed by the 43 m BS-8 Valente in 2003. In 2004 the 21 m mussel harvesting barge BS-1 Lôlipop was designed and built. The present 24 m Lottie Holly will replace the Lôlipop and is to perform fishing duties further afield.
Dual Purpose
The dual purpose roles of fishing and harvesting, coupled with the strict UK fishing vessel regulations have dictated its shape and form. The eye-catching colour of the hull was chosen by Mrs. Valerie Mould, who together with Mr. Kim Mould are the sole owners of Myti Mussels Ltd.
The m.f.v. Lottie Holly, or BS-12 (after its home port Beaumaris in Wales, UK), will be handed-over to Myti Mussels on 28 September in Yerseke. This Dutch fishing-port will be the main destination of Myti Mussels’ harvest. It is this distribution route that determined the vessel’s configuration with two rigs.
Merai Strait
Myti Mussels has its mussel banks in the Merai Strait, separating the Isle of Anglesey from the Welsh mainland. Here, the BS-12 will first seed and later net the mussels, or will be transporting in rest sea areas. The mussel seed fishing is in the Irish Sea off Anglesey.
Main Characteristics & Design Mussel Dredger
- Design: Myti Mussels, Maaskant Shipyards and Bruce Roberts Europe
- Length (pp): 23.62 m
- Beam: 10 m
- Depth: 2.65 m
- Accommodation: 3 crew
- The mussel dredger has two holds, a mussel flushing bunker and two propulsion engines.
- The aft deckhouse with the wheelhouse on top leaves the crew free main deck space from three sides.
- A 4-drum winch holds 300 metres of 16 mm fishing wire.
- There are two rigs and a hydraulic marine-type deck crane with a 2.15-tonne SWL at 7 metres.
