Started ordering all the equipment for processing crab. Christopher already has all the boat equipment because he supplied crab to a processor in Stanley when he purchased George Island 11 years ago. 11 years ago when we purchased George Island the income from them was £5,000 so he had to find another way to increase his income. At the time I worked in Stanley until the income could be brought up to support a family. Then the abattoir came along and it just became too busy to continue with. He also crabbed by himself which I wasn't really happy with as there is no one close if anything goes wrong. We have decided to restart the business this year because our son and his girlfriend want to move to Speedwell to work. We could manage without it but over the last couple of years we have been able to invest substantially in our business buying equipment such as portable pens, an over sower, new portable generator etc. and we don't want to lose this ability. We didn't want to take on the processing side but the original processor in Stanley wasn't interested anymore. The processing will give Tanya, Shaun's girlfriend an opportunity to earn money so in that respect it will be welcomed. Most of the equipment is now ordered but there is still the big job of building or converting a building into a small processing plant. As every one knows fish products have to be respected. The plan at the moment is to catch once or twice a month and process once a week, keeping excess live crab in keep pots. The product will be processed on a Wednesday and flown to Stanley as a fresh product on Thursday. If there are any delays in getting the product to market it will be frozen and freighted as a frozen product.
Christopher has spent his morning working on the hi-ab on Theo. The seals are all leaking making the deck slippery. He has just ordered replacement parts for the hi-ab and the person he was dealing with said spares for this particular model were no longer available but they could make them. He said you really need to look after the end piece though because they are like "hens lips", what happened, he broke it, luckily he does have a spare one!!!! He came in saying "its one of those jobs you wish you had never started".
 |
| Shaun with a rarely caught King Crab |
 |
| Shaun and his mate Dave sorting the catch of Snow crab |
What have I been doing. Just dusting!!!! One of those rare days when the dust has just got too thick and you know you have to do something about it. I even got a chair and dusted the top of my display units, only to find bird crap on the top. Our islands are all cat, rat and mouse free. That's nice isn't it? It means we have lots of little birds, especially the tussac bird which at every opportunity comes in through open windows and doors. A bit of bird **** is a small price to pay for no rats and mice I guess.
No comments:
Post a Comment