Fal Fishery Cooperative CIC
21st May 202111 billion larvae, 2 million recruits, now we need to fund our prototype research vessel...
Sorry we haven't posted any updates for a while, but it has been a very busy time for us.
We found a new Non Executive Director following our AGM in January
We estimate 11,000,000,000 larvae have been 'liberated' and if 0.002% survive the first year that will be 2,200,000 recruits
We have moved the hatchery out of the 'purification centre' and in to its very own purpose built container just in time to start the summer hatchery program
We are now seeking the funds to build our prototype 'research vessel' in the form of a working platform or pontoon. £20,000 is a small budget for such an ambitious platform, but we plan to build a modular pontoon so we can keep adding to it as we grow
We built a small pontoon out of some donated floats and scaffolding to get us started and although it works ok its very small, a little temporary and totally manual (we currently have a slow manual chain hoist to lift the stock).
We have been looking at various suppliers, it is our intention to use rotor moulded recycled plastic for the floats and aluminium frame work as it is much lighter than steel.
On top of the £17,676 raised via Crowdfunder we have been fortunate to receive a small COVID grant of £9,000 plus a MMO Fishery fund of £10,000. We didn't have the funds to pay ourselves a wage and the vessel hire has been given 'in kind', so all together we have raised or received over £90,000 in donations, grants and work in kind!
As you can imagine this has really encouraged us during these unpresidented times, your support has been amazing and it has certainly paved the way for us to build on our start up years and repopulate the unique native oysters on the Fal Estuary
A huge thank you to those that have supported us so far, please spread the word to help us with this next important phase