January 17, 2020 — Lars Vinjerud II can’t stop growing his fisheries and seafood business.
“I’m lucky,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of good people working for me.”
Vinjerud’s company, Fleet Fisheries in New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A., has 14 boats in the scallop, lobster, and longline fisheries, and branches in seafood marketing, a machine shop, and more boats scheduled for construction.
Read the full story from National Fisherman at Seafood Source
January 2, 2020 — A unique new fishing boat joins the fleet in New Bedford.
The scalloper Viking Power is now docked at Fish Island.
The different shape of the orange boat is what most people probably notice first.
“It’s designed to cut through the water better, to be more fuel efficient,” says the boat’s captain, Marty Harris.
Harris brought the Viking Power up from Alabama where it was built.
“Seemed like it didn’t slow down as much going into the weather and it seemed like it didn’t roll as much going into the weather,” Harris told NBC 10.
The weather it will likely face is 15 to 20 foot seas as scallop boats fish about 150 miles off shore.
“You’d probably be scared for your life,” Harris says of those kinds of conditions.
To him, though, “Just a day at work.”
December 23, 2019 — Lars Vinjerud II can’t stop growing his fisheries and seafood business. “I’m lucky,” he says. “I’ve got a lot of good people working for me.”
Vinjerud’s company Fleet Fisheries in New Bedford, Mass., has 14 boats in the scallop, lobster and longline fisheries, and branches in the seafood marketing, a machine shop and more boats scheduled for construction. “Ya just keep rolling,” he says.
Vinjerud’s newest contribution to the New Bedford waterfront is the Viking Power, a vessel that is definitely outside the box. The Viking Power is 106 feet long, has a beam of 30 feet and draws around 14 feet, and catches the eye immediately because of its unique bow shape, which slants down forward into the water.
“I’ve been drawing this boat for 20 years,” says Vinjerud. “I took the design to Williams Fabrication [in Bayou La Batre, Ala.]and we took it to a company called C. Fly Marine. And they modeled it going 6 or 8 knots in 15-foot seas.” According to Vinjerud, the bow cuts through waves and reduces the motion of the vessel, giving the crew a safer more comfortable work platform.
“I call it the positive energy bow,” says Vinjerud. “Like how in judo you use the other person’s energy in your favor.”