On the Beach

The two Kilchoan creel fishermen, Alasdair MacLachlan (left) and Captain Norman (centre) along with Norman's crew man, Justin Cameron, were 'on the beach' on Tuesday.  It's not that there were no prawns to be caught but the the price is currently low, so it's better to leave the creels out for a couple of days to 'soak', thus enabling them to pick the best for the market.

These thin pickings are likely to continue as the prawns will shortly be moulting and growing new carapaces.  Soft prawns can't be sold, so each haul has to be carefully sorted, the soft-shelled prawns being returned to the ocean.

The fishing this winter was continually interrupted by bad weather but recent regulations have ensured that fewer prawn trawlers are coming into the Sound - though this one, Golden Bells II, OB192, has been around for a few days, working up and down between Kilchoan and Tobermory.