Marlyn Sold To Oamaru

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31109, 12 July 1966, Page 10

Marlyn Sold To Oamaru

The 112-ton motor vessel Marlyn has been sold for an undisclosed sum by P. Feron and Son, Ltd., to Mr M. Aspros, of Oamaru. The managing director ef Feron’s, Mr M. L. Newman, announced this yesterday. The 107-ft Marlyn was recently converted to a trawler. Mr Newman said he understood that Mr Aspros had bought the Marlyn to go cray-

shing in the Chatham Islands. The Marlyn can hold between 40 and 60 tons of frozen crayfish tails. Built in Auckland tn 1948 as a seaward defence launch, the Marlyn later carried freight between Wellington and Lyttelton. The Marlyn was bought by Feron and Company in 1961 and undertook a fishing survey round the Pacific Islands and fished round the Chathams. She was used by

Feron’s as a depot ship at Stewart Island and recently as a trawler. Mr Newman said it had been known that crayfish existed round the Chatham since 1907, but it was only recently that the means of catching them had been found. Fishermen are using a squat type of pot which differs slightly from pots used in New Zealand waters. The same size regulations apply to Chathams crayfish. Mr Newman estimates that the Chatham grounds will provide a good supply for about two years. He considers they would last longer if the minimum size requirement was raised to 12 inches, instead of the present 10 inches.