WASSP MULTIBEAM CASE STUDY – FISHING VESSEL “ROMINA SEGUNDO”

Abel Carre?o is the young skipper of the F/V “Romina Segundo”, a purse seiner based out of the Spanish port of Portosín, located in the north west of the country in Galicia. Built in 1994, just over 20 metres long with a steel hull and a gross tonnage of 54 tons, the “Romina Segundo” is one of three vessels owned by the fishing company Colla Pesca and is used to catch pelagic species, mainly sardine and mackerel, close to shore in the Atlantic.

As a firm believer in the value of sonar equipment, Abel had already installed several other type of sonar devices from different manufacturers in the “Romina Segundo”. With these, he was already getting good information about the water column, but he wanted to know more about the sea floor. He wanted to map the bottom, to see any obstacles in detail; detail which the commercial charts simply don’t provide. 

With his existing knowledge of sonar, Abel knew he needed a multibeam echosounder. He did his research and was soon talking to his local WASSP reseller and soon purchased his WASSP F3i Multibeam Sonar.

How did it work out for Abel? “I’m really impressed with the WASSP F3i’s bathymetric functions and, as far as I’m concerned, the WASSP system has already paid for itself”, he says. “Already from the start, I was able to chart a rock with my WASSP, which could have caused a lot of damage if it had fouled the nets. It took me just 20 minutes to fully survey it. This rock was not properly shown on my Electronic Chart. On another occasion, I identified a net that had been dumped or lost by another vessel at sea. Because it was off to starboard, and not directly beneath my vessel, I would never have seen it with a single beam sounder. But the F3i picked it up perfectly and, once again, saved me a big repair bill. My WASSP F3i not only saves me time, it also saves my fishing gear and makes the effort of all the crew more profitable.” 

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