Lorna Jane, the first fully electric vessel on the UK fishing vessel, was designed and built by Hans Unkles, a crab and lobster fisherman from Tayvallich in the West of Scotland. The vessel, which for half of the year runs entirely on solar power, is the first of its kind in the UK.
Hans, winner of the 2024 Fishing News Sustainability Award, was inspired, after 40 years of fishing, to see if he could create a commercially viable, all electric vessel. After two years of hard work, Lorna Jane took to the water, with Hans benefiting from a more sustainable, lower-effort and quieter way of fishing.
Now, with support from the Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust, Hans is using a series of short films to spread the word about the vessels capabilities and its technical capacity, in a bid to help convert other fishers to the electric approach. You can watch the films and find out more about Han’s boat on the It’ll Never Work website.
The first of the films watch it work covers the practical capabilities of the boat and helps to tackle some of the misconceptions many hold about electric fishing vessels.
The second, how it works, provides a deeper dive into the technical specifics of the boat, with a walk through of its systems, from the propeller to the kettle.
The aim of these films is to inspire fishers from across the UK to explore the potential of electric vessels as the industry strives towards net-zero. Any fishers who are interested in this are encouraged to email gavin.o’donnell@fishmongers.org.uk.
© The Fishmongers’ Company 2024
