Crashed yacht towed free from Mowi Ireland salmon pen
A yacht that crashed over a floating collar and into a salmon farm pen has been successfully removed, Mowi Ireland said this evening.
The near-70-year-old vessel barged over the top of one pen at Mowi’s Portlee Smolt site, Clare Island, in County Mayo before coming to rest inside a second pen after an apparent navigation error.
The incident involving the Rara Avis, a flat-bottomed schooner modelled after Thames barge lines, happened in the early hours of today.
There were 25 French people on the boat, and no reported injuries. Those aboard were temporarily transferred to Clare Island while Mowi prepared to remove the vessel this afternoon.
The pens contained 100,000 post-smolts with an average weight of 500 grams. The fish were loaded on to the 2,200m³-capacity Inter Atlantic wellboat while the operation to tow the yacht back over the float collar took place. The wellboat had been brought from a Mowi site in the south of Ireland to play a part in the operation.
Ben Hadfield, chief operating officer farming for Mowi in Scotland, Ireland, and the Faroes, said the pens were checked by divers after the Rara Avis was removed and confirmed that there had been no containment breaches.
“I was pleased with the response from the emergency services and very impressed with the response from the Mowi Ireland team,” said Hadfield.
A video of the Rara Avis can be viewed here.
