Speaker 1: Hello everyone, Welcome to Secret Murders podcast and thank you
for joining us again. Today I'm chatting with Pamela Niery Harbord,
development manager at fraser Borough. Hi Pamela, and welcome to
Seafood Matters.
Speaker 2: Hi Jim. Thank you very much for having me on
the show.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you very much. Looking forward to it.
I've got a lot a lot of great day times
with the broch and yeah, yeah, no, it's both up there.
My one of my favorites, good friends, a lot of boats,
a lot of factories have dealt with there in the
past over the years. Before we get going, I just
wanted to assure our listeners that I'm not getting this
sort of an all post of old age from my podcast.
And I know whatever we've said about Fraser Burra Harbor,
we're talking about the bro hardware.
Speaker 2: We susually are just the.
Speaker 1: Same as Peter hed Aberdeen Week and lyric. So here
we go thick it off. What does the typical day
look like for a development manager at a busy, bustling
harbor like Fraser.
Speaker 2: That's a good question, so I would say it depends
on the time of year what a typical day looks like.
So For example, in the spring, I will be finalizing
maybe grant application projects, so I could have been working
on them for quite a few months. In the autumn
I could be away art conferences and exhibitions. So it
really does depend on the time of year. But I
would say it's quite a varied job. You're engaging with fishermen,
with other stakeholders, with local and the Scottish government and
the UK government. You're working with economists, specialist engineers and consultants.
So it's incredibly varied. It's unlike any other job I
have ever had in wildlife, and it's quite it's quite
thought provoking at times. It can be challenging, it can
be emotional because you're looking to do big things for
your port and that is not an easy thing to achieve.
And there's a lot of people engagement with it as well.
Speaker 1: There'll be a lot of people dependent on it as well. Harbor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So Fraseburgh, I've done a little bit of my
own economic analysis on this. So Frasbrough as a community
has around twelve and a half thousand people, around seven
and a half thousand of them are economically active, and
just last year went through a huge spreadsheet of jobs,
and in Fraser Brat and A worked out that I
would say a third of Frazerbruy's jobs are directly connected
to the harbor, and up to half our direct and
indirectly connected. So it's a really I often say I've
got one of the most important jobs in the brough
because we all need the harbor and we're all relying
on it.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what before we're go any further. Pamela,
I love your accent.
Speaker 2: It's that's I would say. My brokeness is torn down
today a little bit. So this is my posh voice.
Speaker 1: Wonderful, don't get too don't get too push. Every part
is identity. What's you think the unique character and spirit
about the bro Oh, that.
Speaker 2: Is such a good question. Probably when I'll never be
asked again. I would say that we're quite ambitious, but
we keep our light under a bushel a bit too much.
And I think this is not just the harbor, but
actually us as a community. Someone once said to me,
brought her to just get on with things yourselves, and
you did not really ask for help. And I think
that that has been us for you know, generations. So
I would say that's very much the phrase for a
harbor personality as well. We try to be very respectful
of the fishermen and everybody that uses the harbor, and
we very much take a like a long term kind
of view. I don't know what the way of saying
that for a personality is, maybe long term perspective, but
you know, we're here just as temporary custodians to make
the harbor better for the future. So we've definitely got
a long term perspective. And if you were in our meetings,
in our regular rasis, you would hear that from us
as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Anders survived centuries of changes. Are there any big
challenges support has overcome and still shapes it would operate today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say Fresber has been a harbor for
five hundred years and a trust port for over two
hundred and for anybody who doesn't know a trustport, it's
not a not for profit, but it's it's it's certainly
not for dividend. Nobody, no one individual or group of
companies owns Fresborough Harbor and there are trusports up and
down the coast of Scotland. Everything every bit of profit
that we make we invest back in the harbor. For
the future, and so I would say they're very expensive
to run and maintain. And we've spent quite a lot
of time behind this scenes trying to adapt the harbor
over the generations. So Fresbury was there was a herring boom,
as we all know, and Fresbury really grew and adopted
at that time, and a lot of what was built
was because of that, the ballaklava, breakwater and pears and
all of that kind of stuff. Nowadays, it's it's still
about changing for the industry and particularly the fishing industry
as well, and how it's changed. So boats are, they're larger,
they're deeper, they're wider, and the harbor needs to keep
up with that, or to try to keep up with it.
But the challenge is, and I think that was a
challenge of the past as well, that everything changes faster
than harbor's can keep up, because it takes a long
time to develop a harbor. So one of the biggest
challenges is trying to see into the future and make
sure that we are planning for that and developing for it.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you think when you the heir goes
bark to my even my own grannie on my father's side.
She was a fish wife and went from Eric to
the bro right down to the lowest off over the
course of the year. And as was obviously I'm not
talking to her now. They were so happy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, now Grannie was. I got in quin as well,
and I'm the third generation of my family to work
at Raisborough Harbor too, So I think I can connect
really well with what you're seeing there, or try to.
Although I've never been at sea, and I've never been
I got in crying myself.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you think of the bear what they
did the bear Hams as well, I'm.
Speaker 2: Not toughing off for that, tell you.
Speaker 1: That's for sure. Looking ahead, what do you see is
the biggest threat to traditional fishing ports and do you
feel the bra can turn that into opportunities.
Speaker 2: I think that's what we're trying to do. So I
think the challenges that we're faced as a port in
the future are the challenges that we're faced in the
recent past. Boats continue to change that the industry is
under a lot of pressure in many areas, costs, spatial squeeze,
we have to we have to try and modernize and
adapt so that fishing, which actually is Freezebera's number one
business remains that way, and that is why we're looking at,
you know, all of the things that we do in
the future. So with a management team of just five people,
and we regularly discuss what projects we're working on, whether
it's from the very biggest of expanding the harbor to
looking at whether we need a new wench near the
fish market. You know, we look at everything that we're
doing and planning. We plan it out in advance. We
look for ways to prioritize the projects that we work on.
So we have a kind of set of a criteria.
Does it work for the fishermen, does it generate income
for the harbor, does it reduce costs for the harbor?
And that's how we prioritize what we're doing. So I'm
not sure if I'm answering your question, but I am
trying to.
Speaker 1: No, you're doing it well, and I'm as I said, well,
you've sold it to me anyway. I could listen to
your accent all day.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll see what everyone else thinks.
Speaker 1: All our listeners are fully aware of the punishing life
can be at sea. Does the Brock have the infrastructure
and services that makes it difference for the crews as
they come in to tie up.
Speaker 2: Obviously, I've never been at sea and I can never
I can never fully understand what a fisherman goes through,
but I think the things that they want or here
in Frasburgh we have an incredibly good location for the
fishing grounds. We have a modernized our fish market so
to meet the needs of the buyers and the fishermen.
We have a best in class vessel repair and maintenance
facilities here, a shiplift, a dry dock, so we have
everything here in Freysbury because that's been built over generations.
I think what we would ideally like to do is
we would like for our fish market, which has become
more tidal, to be twenty four to seven again. So
that's one of the things that we're trying to work
on to make sure that they have what they need.
A fisherman, I think when they get home the lander,
they want to land our fish and they want to
go home as quickly as possible. Fresborough has more fishermen
I think than any other community in Scotland. I think
it's over seven hundred, so hopefully we can give them
the services that we need just by being here and
working on what it is that they need in the future.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it works, Pamela, because fisherm and unfriendly,
we're here and still keep in contact with Just say
they're landing in Scrabster can look if they're fishing northwest
in the deep water and that, and they'll maybe land
because obviously fuel prices now, they'll they'll know, they'll want
to land the nearest port and stuff like that. But
if for anything, like to say they're needing the job done,
it's a brock. They're going to death.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So my dad was a skipper and when I
said I was coming to work at the harbor, one
of the things he said to me was that the
Freesbury is best in class for boats repair. And it's
a term that I have used ever since I started,
because we often say anything that you need for a boat,
you can find it within five hundred meters of freeze
for a harbor, and the work is incredibly well done.
And I think that's a really good statement for Freeeseber
and just echoes. What you've just said is the perception
of us as well, and we tried really hard to
work on that and keep it going.
Speaker 1: Yeah, good harms as well get good jobs done. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Do you maintain open sort of relationships with fishermen to
let them feel heard when decisions or maybe made.
Speaker 2: Try to so, and we do it in a variety
of ways, so starting at the top, if you like.
As a trustport, we have a board of commissioners. We're
all volunteers. We have two fishing commissioners right now, so
we have a whitefish prawne commissioner and a pologic one
as well. So they are one of the first sports
of golf, I feel like for speaking to the industry.
We also try to maintain good relationships with Ian Gott
now Hannah at the Plagic Fishermen's Association, and the same
with Mike Park at Esterweer, and of course there's the
fishermen themselves. So recently I have been phoning the fishermen
to speak to them about a certain area that I
want to work with them on, and they have all
been really kind of supportive and accommodating and helpful, so
I try to speak with them one to one. We're
always at the fishing exhibition it's gip Our Expo, and
I always use that as an opportunity to get them
to give us feedback. So this year we had a
survey and the very first question is how are we doing?
So that was for them to tell us what they
think about phraser A harbor and what we need to do.
And of course there's the other organizations that work for them,
so there's their auctioneers and there's the buyers as well,
and there's just so many different opportunities to try and
connect with them. It's not just me. We have a
harbor master, we have an assistant harbor master, a harbor superintendent,
an adeputy superintendent. The harbor master is responsible for everything
that happens on the water and the safety and the port,
and the harbor superintendent is responsible for everything that happens
on concrete. So together we're always trying to speak with
and be supportive of the fishermen as well and make
sure that they have what they need as much as
we can.
Speaker 1: That's very impressive. And yeah, no, it's I know the
people you're talking about as well. And the harbor master
is such a responsible job. Oh why And you know,
any harbor I've been in, you don't argue with the
harbor because it kind of major, major implications if you
go against that, if there were any accident or anything
happened and you didn't go by what the harbor master
told you, your insurance has gone everything.
Speaker 2: And it's the harbor master that you know, you say
has the ultimate responsibility. But we try to work with everybody,
not against them.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. If you can upgrade or change any of
the poor infrastructure to make fishermen's lives easier, there anything
that look come to your mind?
Speaker 2: Yep, immediately. I this is my life. So I would
like deeper water at our fish market, but in order
to do that, we would probably need a breakwater extension.
So it's one of those things. Ultimately, I want the
fishermen to have twenty four to seven access to freeze
for at all times into the fish market. And that's
just the number one thing for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought it was. I like the way you
approached that, and the only thing you missed was the
blue Peter fashion. And now for.
Speaker 2: Something prepare I wish, I wish.
Speaker 1: Wonderful. Can you walk it through the Brons master Plan
of diversification?
Speaker 2: Sure? Sure so. Our vision for Frasebraw is for it
to be a resilient trust port and a dynamic economic
enabler that makes a major contribution to the community and
the region and ultimately delivers prosperity for everybody in Fraserbra.
The master plan is about expanding Frasebrow by almost fifty
percent in size, because, as we've already spoken about, the
industry has changed, boats have changed, and Frasbrah hasn't been
able to keep up with that so far. We need
deeper water, we need wider entrances for fishing, but we
also need to diversify and welcome new industries that are
operating around Freesburg as well, because by diversifying we create
a more resilient business, because the harbor still is a business,
and by diversifying our income streams, that actually helps us
to make sure that Fresbra is fit for everyone who
uses it, including and most importantly the fishermen.
Speaker 1: You have a lot of key space.
Speaker 2: We have, but we're very busy as well, so and
what we are very what's word I'm looking for. We're
like a Victoria in harbor, so there's lots of little
littler basins, but actually we would really benefit from a
bigger basin that can take deeper drafted boats and that's
part of the master plans. So it would be a
new basin designed for commercial activity and that could be
an energy, it could be crewis, it could be cargo,
it could be decommissioning. But we've also in the master
plan and got plants to deepen faith Lea Harbor, which
is where the fish markets are wide in the entrances
to faith Lee into the Balla Clava and the Ballaklava
is where I think nine or ten of Scotland's plagic
fleet live and they are squeezing in there. There are
some videos I think on YouTube that really needs to
be improved for them as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's very honest and open. Can you use the
misconception and explain why expanding your horizons actually protect and
preserve the brox Core fishing heritage.
Speaker 2: Sure, so the industry has changed and there are like
we all know, there are fewer boats in there cutching.
They're more efficient. The fishing industry on its own isn't
really enough to maintain the harbor anymore. It's harbors have
become incredibly expensive to maintain. And so to put that
into context, before I started, my colleague John, they worked
on protecting part of the North Breakwater, which protects a
whole harbor, and it actually protects the town as well.
We then worked in another project to protect another section
and to reinforce it, and the price went up by
three times. So when he did it the first time,
I think it was around half a million. By the
time we were doing it, it was well over a
million pounds. So that just shows the context and the
costs that we have in trying to maintain it as
a harbor. If we diversify, for example, in our gear crewise,
we then bring in more income to the harbor, and
that means that we have more money to invest in
maintaining it, in developing it and protecting it for the future.
And it's the fishermen who are always the number one user,
so in our minds they are absolutely beneficiaries of that.
Speaker 1: That's good, Yeah, that's the same ghost. Good answer. How
do you bridge the gap between the immediate day to
day demands of working fishing boats and the disruption of say,
large scale structural overhalls.
Speaker 2: So large scale structural overhaulds, can you give me and
can can you give me an idea of what you
mean by large scale? Do you mean improvements to the harbor.
Speaker 1: Well not just say boats are getting overhauled, but they
can't move.
Speaker 2: So understood. So we have a dry dock in Freezer
Brat which accommodates boats up to sixty five meters. We
also have our ship lift which takes six boats at
a time up to eight hundred and fifty tons, and
that's where a lot of the work is done, and
the harbor Master can also designate a boat can go
in an area for work to be done. We try
to take a long range view, so if there's anything
significant being done, we will take that into our planning.
And that's really the harbor Master's role. Where we've diversified.
For example, I think a lot of people know that
we have an Ulstraer wind basin freezerbra It came started
coming in about twenty eighteen and became operational in twenty two.
My colleagues spent several years planning what they were going
to be doing, and everybody now wants to speak to
me because I'm not free planning what we were going
to be doing. So they looked at deepen in the
North Harbor Basin, which was done and that was to
be able to welcome bigger fishing boats so that we
could move them out of one area into another, and
then the shallower area was given over to smaller windboats.
So we try to plan for these things as much
as we can.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean diverse do offshore winds. It's sort
of major logistical leap.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was, and it was something it was something
that was challenged a lot in Freesburg. At the time.
I wasn't here, but my colleagues speak of it and
have We've had long conversations about it. So they could
see that the harbor's income was changing. They could see
that we needed to welcome new business, and they did
a lot of work to work out where that business
could come from. But what they always have done is
tried to make sure that that business is an addition.
It's always an addition. It's never a replacement for Freesbrow.
It was always about bringing more income to the harbor
so that we could sustain it. And I would say
there has been there could have been misconceptions that Frasburg
was changing to wind, but we have never been a
port that wants to go from reliant on fishing to
reliant on wind. We want to be diverse and strong and.
Speaker 1: Made the rock attractive to the renewable sector.
Speaker 2: Close did a lot of research at the time and
spent a lot of time trying to understand the industry
and how it could how they could make it work
in Freezebro without, you know, alienating our main business. And
it was two things. I think, One we showed them
that we wanted them to come, but two we could
offer a multi vessel strategy, so we could offer space
for an SOV which goes out every two weeks and
only comes into the harbor once a fortnight, and for ctvs,
which are smaller boats which go in and out every day.
We were at the time very keen on the smaller
boats because we saw that as a way of replacing
economic activity in the community that had been lost by
the fewer and fewer fishermen, so they weren't coming down
to go to see buying papers, buying shopping, that sort
of thing. And we saw the CTV activity as a
way of bringing local jobs to freezer Brag again and.
Speaker 1: Can pushing boats and the renewbal sector can share the
key space and get on.
Speaker 2: So I think that's a very good question. And I
think in fraserbra that they do, which is why we've
had people coming from Kanada to Japan to fraser Bra
to understand how we did it, because understandably there is
that there can be tension, and that is totally understandable.
But I think in fraser Bra, because we planned it out,
because we developed the harbor for the fishermen, we put
in shore power so that it would be better for everybody.
I think that we have achieved that the SOV that
comes in, it's not using a fishing berth, it's using
our commerce so key and the ctvs that come in
they are using much much shallower area than than is
really suitable for the fishermen nowadays. So I think we
have shown that we can do it anyway.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's and for the like, you've shown that
you can do it, and obviously you approved you can
and the people work together. What about like the like
the engineers, fabricators and people they got are they adapting
and are they maybe doing work and servicing on the
one sector as well now as the fish?
Speaker 2: I think they are. We have ctvs, sometimes larger ones
come to Fraseborg for work to be done. We've got
the likes of McDuff Strachan's Foreruno. I can't even list
them all. Who are they're the ones who attract the
boats as much as it's the harbor. We are an
eco system together, and certainly one of our long range
planning activities is to look at how we can work
with the traders to make sure that we can accommodate
the boats that want to come here for them too.
So I think we are already doing it, but I
think there is potential for the engineers, the marine electronics,
the painting and coating, all of them to benefit from
it too, And I think they are proactive enough that
they are working on that themselves as well.
Speaker 1: Exciting times ahead for the bro I hope.
Speaker 2: So that's my job.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well no, but it's working. It's a work in horbor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is. Like I just really love it here.
Speaker 1: Sorry I shouldn't, I said, yes, it is about of
contradicting myself. It's our work in harbor, but it works.
Speaker 2: I'm pinching that. I'm pinching that for every future presentation
I have to give.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you're currently working on digital auctions system for
the fishermen. What advantages is will this bring to buyers?
And sellers compared to the traditional debt with the showed.
Speaker 2: Auction, So yes, we are. We always try to remember
that it is the fishermen that pays the wages and
phrase for a harbor. It's their advalorum that helps us
to that's our main source of revenue and helps us
to develop the harbor. So the fishermen are a generally
for the electronic auction and have been quite supportive of it,
and that's part of the like one to one engagement
that we're having with them. But they're generally looking for
a mere modern approach, but understanding that there could be
work on their part as well. It's been difficult, I think.
For we've got two auctioneer companies in Fraserbraw, so I
think they understand that their profile of employee is changing,
so it's how do they find modern salespeople for fish?
And actually electronic or digitization is part of it for
them as well. It's potentially making Fraseburh's fish more widely available.
One of the things that we've considered is that it's
further to travel to Fraserbraw to buy fish, although local
buyers do provide that service, and I think they do
it very well. So I think it's I think it's
just inevitable part of the journey for Frasbrow. We've been
a fishingport for a long time and we want to
stay a fishingport for a long time as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's what can you say about it? It's Fittman.
Tell you what it gives them? Well, I'm not going
to tell you anything, Pamela, sorry, but what I've feel
I speak a lot to them. I've been in the industry,
that side of the industry many years as well. But
what it gives them is confidence.
Speaker 2: I think that's a good word. But I think that's
reflected on the other side as well, because the buyers,
if they're not in the market anymore with our eye
as their merchant, they need confidence as well. So that's
going to take some time to build up that relationship. Potentially,
I think it could work for everyone, but it's going
to be a learning process.
Speaker 1: I've been I've been that guy shout on the shout auction.
I've been auctioneer for well over thirty forty years right
and involved directly. But it would be the first to
say it's coming into the modern world and boats would
have as I said confidence, and I mean confidence, that's
the right word. And where they wouldn't have the confidence
in some ports still the lander fish if it hadn't
got the buyers and the capacity keep maintaining the price
and things like that. Electronic auction gives them that confidence
a way to face reality. Yeah, I definitely think it's
a way forward and good luck, good luck with it.
And but you have a you know, you have a
strong base anyway with the buyers and processors, so it's
not like you're just starting from scratch.
Speaker 2: And yeah, you're absolutely right in phrase is when I
was talking about that. You can look at ah Is earlier,
like Frasbrow is the highest level of fish processing in Aberdeenshire.
I think more employees are employed in that industry in
Fresburgh than anywhere else in the country. And it's that
it's that sort of statistic and that I suppose, what's
the word I'm looking for, the whole cycle from going
out to fish, to landing to processing, it's happening in
Fresbroh so much so that actually the starts indicated that
Fresburgh is the most reliant community on fish and fishing
in the whole of the UK. So you're right, we
do have that, we do have that excellence in fish
processing as well.
Speaker 1: And from a locals point of view, then they don't
have to have any fear what they're losing because I'll
just say local buyers and that they think, you know,
but rather than worry about this their cake, the piece
of their cake, well, the whole cake is going to
be so much bigger.
Speaker 2: And I think as locals they have they have more
inherent knowledge than anyone else of every boat and the
type of fish that they land. Yeah, their knowledge is unparalleled.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'll take a stage further Parmelin that you're
right they are and you look at the places like
Shetland where it's been a massive success, and I'm sure
they'll be the first to say that locals may be
frightened that because people can buy it from Afar that
they don't have to be in Fraser, but that they're
going to get less and they're going to lose out. Well,
doesn't matter where the person is bidding, as far as
the electronic auction is concerned, they still want to use
the locals.
Speaker 2: Yes, and firs hand, I went to Shetland with my
colleague John to see it firsthand as well there a
few years ago and it was all locals that were
involved still there buying as well. So I think how
things will develop its words I'm looking for. You know,
we kind of have to we have to, we have
to do it to see how it will develop in
Freees Bra.
Speaker 1: You're doing a lot of work on it, do I do?
I take it well that you're going to say is
something that the fisherman lambs in the auction and maybe
just doesn't get the place he was hoping for. Are
you going to take the responsibility for it.
Speaker 2: Now? For that? So the harmer is providing the infrastructure
for the auction as it always has, but we're not.
We don't sell the fish, we don't land it, and
we don't buy it. So the whole ecosystem is still
the same in that PJ. Johnston's and Westward will be
the ones selling the fish for the fisherman. Still, Yeah,
I just I know.
Speaker 1: Because and I don't mind saying that, I'll put my
name into it. You're never gonna You're never gonna have
a fisherman satisfied that he got a good price. Well,
maybe a wee bit, I'll no doubt hear about it with.
Speaker 2: This, sure you will.
Speaker 1: When you look through the seafood supply chain. What makes
you feel the proudest to represent the broke on the global.
Speaker 2: Stage, of course, that's a really good question. What makes
me the proudest? I would like so this I'm gonna
start a bit backwards, but I would like freeze For
to be an exemplar for similar sized ports around the
world in that you know, we've been through a lot
as a port over the generations. We've had good times
and we've had hard times, but we've never given up
and we've always stayed the course. I think the fact
that we're still here and we're still you know, we're
we're the largest port in Europe and we're the third
biggest fishing port in the in Scotland. So I think
what makes me proudest is that we never give up
and we're always We're always focused on what makes Freesburg better,
not just for the fishermen, but for the traders and
for the community as well. And we are always open
to welcoming other ports, other nationalities to Frasbrau so that
we can learn from them and that they can learn
from us. We have lots to learn and lots to do,
but we're certainly as a team and as a board
of commissioners, are definitely up for our challenge, and so
I think that's what makes us proudest. Like we did,
we don't give up. Even when we're beating down, we
get back up and we keep on going.
Speaker 1: I think you have a lot going for anyway, Pamela,
because when you when you think it's just thinking of
here they can come in for the auction, they can
well for the services they need. Obviously they have to
get fuel, lace, empty boxes, all that sort of thing.
But if they need to go, if they need to
get repairs of any kind done, it's going to become
a one stop shop.
Speaker 2: I think it already is, and it's like they're a
pair thing. When I first came to the Harbor, although
my dad had said face was best in class, I
still didn't really appreciate it. And I was looking at
the business case for the Harbor expansion, and as I
was working with economists and years and accountants on that
really started to understand the impact of the traders in
Fraser bra having the facilities so that they could and
did grow their businesses in the way that they have.
But also it's really special because in most locations with
a dry dock kind of ship lift, not all, but
most there's one company doing a lot of the work.
But that's not where it is in fraserbra And so
if you're coming in with euro fishing boat, but we
also have small ferries, we have windboats, we have cargo boats.
Come you can use anyone that you want in your boat.
And what that has meant is that we have the
best of the best working here because they've learned. They've
learned over the generations and over the decades by working
for the fishermen. And I think, I think that's really special.
And when I speak about that with it can wait
development agencies or the government for it took out. It
took a while for it to start landing. But when
I started to explain exactly how many people were employed,
exactly the range of services, and you were attracting two
hundred and seventy five boats or you know, on average
every year to the bro that's that's incredibly special and
should be celebrated, and we would we want to do
more of that and we want to help those traders
get more boats here as well.
Speaker 1: I think the important thing for you as well, from
the way of described it all, Pamela, which and I
think major importance is the clever approach you've taken, your
taking sorry to it, for they like the electronic auction
you're taking from and with you. You're talking to them.
It's not like you're coming with this or one sector
has come in and saying that's the only way it
can be. No, No, you're all talking together. So you're
doing it so it's covering everybody, every sector.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're trying to. We try. We still consider ourselves
to be quite small. And it's interesting because we always
try to see ourselves as just part of the one
actor on the stage, if you like, we're just we
have a role to play and it's an important one,
but we're not the only person or company there. Everybody
else is just as important.
Speaker 1: You're just brokers.
Speaker 2: We're just brokers doing our vest.
Speaker 1: You know when I say that, Pamela, guy here in
Casness honestly a good friend, the loveliest guy. And he
has to tell you he's ninety five, he's still golf
being regularly and he's just a brilliant guy. And he'll
if anybody was to ask it, which I often do
because I love heating it. He's a brocket jump jump
backheads his name, and Jim's a rocket. And I was
on this golf I was just finishing a few holes
of golf one day and here I'm walking in the
car park, gett into my car. Jim's walking towards me.
He was going on to the golf course. He says,
are you coming out for a few holes. I'm just
going to do four. Of course, it appeared quite useful,
quite handy for what we call cut in. You don't
have to do the full eighteen. You can cut in
after four holes or eight holes or that. So he said,
I'm only going to be doing four holes today. And
you know, here's me just finished playing. And I says, Jim, Yes.
Speaker 2: I am playing with it.
Speaker 1: So out we go. We're on the fourth fairway. Now
here's how maybe we challenge for you. Here we're on
the fourth fairway. And he asked me, did I ever
hear the bachhen Clan poem? No? I didn't. Well he
recited it. I could take it to the golf course today, Pamela,
to the very sport. You know how things that mean
a lot to you things like John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Everybody remembers where they were when they heard that sort
of thing. Well, I was the same way, Jim. I
could take you to the spot. Give me the full
recital of the Bucking Clan poem, and honestly, I'll tell you, Pamela,
and I'm gonna ask you if you have heard it.
If not, go and listen to it because it's in Doric.
Says it'll match the best of the best ever come
out of Robbie Burns.
Speaker 2: Well, I haven't heard of it, but my mom's a
backin so I will google it after.
Speaker 1: It's the Bucking Clan poem.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll be going him tonight to ask if she
knew of it, because she's never mentioned.
Speaker 1: It to me. That how special do you think it was?
For me in the middle of a fair way getting
it from a ninety five year old back and oh.
Speaker 2: I bet just quite the performance.
Speaker 1: Oh it was wonderful. It was absolutely brilliant. But oh
my goodness, it's just the Doric and the way the expressions.
It's just as I said, I'm not exaggerate, it will
match anything, and I'm not taking trying to say anything
against Robbie Burns. He's a national bard and all the rest,
but it matches anything he's come out with.
Speaker 2: Brilliant, Brilliant. I'll be googling that straight away.
Speaker 1: Is there anything will point you would like to maybe
the fishing industry and local community to remember about the brough.
Speaker 2: The first thing that comestant my head is another thing
that my father told me, and it was that as
a trust port Freezeber Harbor belongs to us all. It
belongs to the community. It belongs to the fishermen as
much as it belongs to the people who are working
in it and trying to secure its future. And I
think that's an important message and it's one that I
try to share with everybody who comes, whether they are
primary school children walking around learning about fishying and jobs
in the harbor, or whether it's you know, our MSPs
come in to learn about what we're doing, our challenges
and how they can help. The harbor belongs to us
all in Fraser or the bro.
Speaker 1: Brilliant And do you have any social media presence? Familia
listeners can follow you.
Speaker 2: Limited. I do have LinkedIn though so and I use
that for my working life. I think I've been on
it for about twenty years, so you can find me
there and we have a website at the Harbor as
well and we post a learn news on that as well.
Speaker 1: Excellent. Well, I'll just say thank you, Pamela is really
good and good luck with the developments in the Broke
and right with you and I'll be certainly hearing all
about as things progress. And good luck with the electronic auction.
I definitely do feel you're going the right direction and
the way you're talking and keeping everybody on board. Well done,
and thank you very much for today.
Speaker 2: No, thank you, it's been a wonderful experience. On if
you're in the brough, you need to chop on my
door and we'll give you a tour, even though you
know it already.
Speaker 1: Oh no no, but I certainly will be yeah, yeah, no,
I've got great, great memories of the Broke brilliant.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Jim,