The Irish supertrawler Atlantic Dawn, owned by the late Killybegs fisherman Kevin McHugh, has been sold to a leading Dutch fishing company, writes Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent.
The 144-metre vessel has been purchased by Parlevliet and Van der Plas, a family-owned international company with a fleet of 12 vessels and fish trading/processing outlets in the Netherlands and Germany.
The company, founded by Dirk Parlevliet and his brothers near Katwijk, the Netherlands, employs 800 staff.
No price has been confirmed by either party, but it is understood to be in the region of €35 million.
The Atlantic Dawn was originally built by Mr McHugh in Norway at a cost of €63 million in a deal supported by Irish lending institutions. Mr McHugh (60) died last October after a short illness.
A spokeswoman for Atlantic Dawn Ltd confirmed that the company would keep its tonnage and quota for the vessel, and intended to explore new opportunities in the fish business.
Mr McHugh's second vessel, the 104-metre Veronica, was sold over a year ago and is being refurbished for offshore surveying work.
The Atlantic Dawn was one of the largest vessels of its type in Europe and was equipped to carry 7,000 tonnes of fish - equivalent to over 18 million meals - when it steamed into Dublin Port from Norway in September 2000.
Mr McHugh intended to avail of EU "third-country agreements", then costing up to a third of the EU's fishery budget and availed of by Spain, the Netherlands and other coastal states.
However, the European Commission initially opposed registration of the vessel at a time when it was cutting back on overall fleet sizes.
Infringement proceedings were initiated against Ireland. After 18 months of negotiations, involving former marine minister Frank Fahey, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and former EU commissioner David Byrne, the commission allowed the vessel on to the Irish and EU register in return for taking the Veronica off the register.
Controversially, Mr McHugh was allowed to retain the Veronica's tonnage - an essential requirement for vessel owners seeking to rebuild or modernise vessels under EU/Irish licensing arrangements.
The "understanding" was that this would be sold to regulate any over-capacity in the Irish pelagic (mackerel/herring) sector. It was estimated that Mr McHugh stood to gain between €50 million and €60 million from this.
The Veronica was re-registered and moved to Australia where the government refused to licence it before its own general election.
The Atlantic Dawn fished off the west African state of Mauritania under a private agreement, which was criticised by environmental groups.
After an 2005 coup in Mauritania, the new government reviewed its existing oil and fishing agreements, and the vessel was arrested. Although its owners denied it had broken any regulations, it was fined $250,000 (€190,00) by the Mauritanian authorities and told to leave.
The vessel is currently in Irish waters, availing of its EU quota for blue whiting, according to the company.
