Ship Mates – Come aboard the Kirkella

The Kirkella recently hosted a group of industry professionals, including young fish frier James Ellams. This educational visit, organised by Smales, KFE and FASFA, showcased the vessel’s impressive operations and state-of-the-art technology.

We caught up with James who shared his perspective on this unique experience:

“As a young fish frier, it is so brilliant to be given the opportunity to see just how great our industry is. I was lucky enough to be invited by Smales Fish Merchants along with some great fish and chip operators,Whiteheads Fish & Chips, Two Gates Fisheries, Carver’s Fish & Chips, Mister C’s and Lighthouse Fisheries of Flamborough to visit the British Kirkella trawler which was in dock for a short time. Julie Waites from FASFA and KFE were also on board for this fun, educational experience.

As we arrived, I couldn’t get over the size of the vessel but didn’t expect the scale of the operation on board. The Kirkella is a British cod and haddock freezer trawler. The Kirkella’s main areas of operation are the Barents Sea, Greenland waters, NAFO (northwest Atlantic) and the Norwegian Sea. Each expedition takes four to six weeks.

We saw the full operation below deck and heard how fish are caught, processed and packaged ready for us to use in our shops. The technology on the bridge was amazing and I got chance to sit in the captain’s chair to experience what it must be like being in control. We had an excellent lunch of fish and chips prepared by the brilliant crew. Being on board really helped me to appreciate the hard work and dedication that goes into catching the fish we serve. It was great to share with the crew the passion and skills we all put into preparing quality fish and chips. 

If ever you get the opportunity to experience this great British vessel , I thoroughly recommend it!

Here are some Kirkella facts:

The Kirkella was registered in June 2018 and is 81m long. She is a state-of-the-art trawler, catching around 12 tonnes of fish per haul. With 30 crew onboard and automated processing, the first fish reach the onboard freezers 40 minutes after being caught. Aided by GPS, sensors on the nets, and sophisticated control systems, modern trawling is now so precise that wastage is negligible.

Kirkella keeps a digital record of all hauls of fish. The system records live weight and the amount produced by the onboard factory or fishmeal plant. The production of fishmeal, consisting of the carcasses of fish and all off-cuts, means that Kirkella has no discards.

Kirkella’s advanced technology makes fishing highly accurate, minimising bycatch and eliminating discards through the use of the net sensors; the sensors provide information on depth, width, and temperature. Screens on the bridge console display information on the depth and width of nets as well as temperature thanks to sensors positioned at all the critical parts of the underwater operations.

Undersized and juvenile fish escape the catch through a grid in the net.

Each trawl lasts between 30 minutes and six hours. The nets are hauled onboard from the stern by powerful 2,000m cable winches and the catch is electronically stunned and conveyed to the onboard factory. The fish are filleted, frozen, and packaged in a continuous, highly mechanised process. The guts, skins and heads are stored separately and processed into fishmeal and used in animal feeds and as a fertiliser. Kirkella can store up to 780 tonnes of fish fillets at -28 degrees Celsius in her onboard cold store.”