Caithness skipper lands lifetime achievement award
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A CAITHNESS skipper who has had a fishing career spanning 50 years was presented with a lifetime achievement award at a ceremony in Aberdeen.
Lybster man David Fraser, who has been in the wheelhouse of the Wick seine-netter Opportune (WK 171) for 35 years, was a joint winner in the Fishing News Awards 2019.
Commenting on the skipper's time with the Bremner Fishing Company, Andrew Bremner said: "He has consistently been amongst the top earners over that period. During this time he has shown great dedication to the fishing industry."
Mr Fraser, who will be retiring later this year, started fishing at Lybster on board the local seiner North Star after leaving school. He then went to Peterhead where he became a crewman on the Fair Isle.
Giving the background to the skipper's long service, Mr Bremner explained: "He started fishing with my late father Norrie Bremner over 40 years ago as a deckhand. After a year or two he went to Fraserburgh and got his mate's papers, and a year later he went back and got his skipper's papers.
"During that time my father realised that David was an extremely hard worker and showed dedication to the job and he offered him to come into partnership with the Bremner Fishing Company."
The first boat Mr Fraser served on with the Bremner family was the second Boy Andrew. During the period that he was training for his skipper's ticket the fishing company was having another steel boat built in Campbeltown – the third Boy Andrew. Mr Fraser became a partner of the company while this boat was under construction.
My father realised that David was an extremely hard worker and showed dedication to the job and he offered him to come into partnership with the Bremner Fishing Company.
He went on to be an engineer on board the third Boy Andrew for many years, and when the fourth Boy Andrew was built in 1986 the previous boat was renamed the Opportune and David became the skipper.
While working as the skipper on the Opportune he pair-trawled with the Boy Andrew, skippered by Andrew Bremner.
The lifetime achievement category, sponsored this year by Box Pool Solutions, is presented to an individual who throughout their career has been a true champion of UK or Irish commercial fishing.
Four men were nominated and the award was jointly won by skipper David Fraser and Mike Montgomerie, of Hull. A fisherman for over 20 years, after coming ashore in 1997 he became widely recognised as a world-leading expert in gear technology.
