FIFTY YEARS AGO Thursday January 27, 1972
Campbeltown-built Halcyon trawler relaunched
Now plying the waters of Lake Rudolf is the £60,000 trawler Halcyon, which was built at Campbeltown last year.
The fisheries research vessel was shipped to Mombasa from Glasgow before making an epic 800-mile overland journey to the lake.
Special equipment aboard the boat includes Triton echo sounding gear, a purse seine trawl winch, a windlass, plankton samplers and a refrigeration plant.
The Halcyon also carries a wide variety of net gear, most of which was provided by Bridport Gundry’s Campbeltown depot.
The British Information Services in Nairobi have sent us information about the boat’s two year project:
‘The Halcyon will play a major role in a research survey of the fish resources in Lake Rudolf to provide reliable estimates of the fishing potential in the lake and plans for its commercial exploitation.
‘The survey will be based on acoustic methods of stock assessment supported by data from purse seine, mid water trawl and gill net catches.
‘A team of British and Kenyan scientists will study the ecology of the fish which are of great economic importance and the most appropriate means of catching them as well as the basic organic food production of the lake.’
▮ Editor’s note: Lake Rudolf is now called Lake Turkana and Lake Turkana National Park is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.