Historical Overview of the Lüderitz Lobster Industry, by Werner Gühring

Historical Overview of the Lüderitz Lobster Industry, by Werner Gühring. ISBN 9789994568819 / ISBN 978-99945-68-81-9

In his memoires Historical Overview of the Lüderitz Lobster Industry, Werner Gühring describes various interesting and lighter moments, incidents and episodes are described with a personal touch, resulting in a contribution with great historical value.

Werner Gühring  

The crawfish industry had at last come of age and was looking towards a spectacular future with more and more markets opening up for their packs. Canned crawfish was now also being sent in ever increasing amounts to America. However, as from the early fifties it was the export of frozen rock lobster tails from Lüderitz to the United States that brought glamour and improved profit to the industry. Frozen tails had from then on been exported in ever increasing numbers from Lüderitz. However, with the introduction of carrier vessels many a new problem showed up. Until that point in time every catcher vessel delivered its catch daily to the factory. While the boat was being discharged, bait, water, fuel and provisions were loaded onto the boat. The bait went straight into the bait box, which was insulated to keep the bait frozen until it was used. Thus the bait did not come into contact with the deck of the vessel. In other words no contamination on deck could take place. However, with the change to carrier vessels this in fact was a complete turn around for the following reasons: The carrier vessels now acted as a supply unit supplying the catcher with its entire requirement that until then had been done at the factory jetty. Bait supply to the catcher vessels had been stored in the hold of the carrier vessels so as to keep it out of the sun. Once all supplies had been delivered, the carrier vessel would start collecting the lobster catches and in turn would store the catches in the hold so as to keep them out of the sun and wind. As we feared a possible bacterial contamination from the bait we requested expertise from Fishing Industry Research Institute (F.I.R.I.) in the Cape to conduct tests and to oversee it all for some days. Thank God we had the foresight for the tests showed a complete chain of contamination. The cholesterol contamination firstly emerged with samples of some lobster packs taken within the factory. The problem was there and it was obvious that we had to follow through. Swaps that had been taken from the slings and the fish baskets turned out to be positive just as we had expected. All tests were now followed through to the carrier vessels and the lobster catcher vessels. It was found that the catcher vessels had only limited contamination whilst the contamination of the carrier vessels was extremely high and even more so in the hold area. It was thus clear that the contamination originated from the bait. The Fishing Industry Research Institute (FIRI) experts recommended the use of Anabak disinfectant. As at that time no Anabak was in stock in Luderitz, we had to Air Freight the first consignment to Luderitz. We purchased spray guns and dipping tanks had to be constructed. The carrier vessels' decks and the hold areas were washed with seawa-ter and subsequently sprayed with Anabak. All slings and fish baskets were dipped into tanks filled with water and Anabak and taken straight onto the deck of the carrier vessels for delivery to the respective catcher. […]

Historical Overview of the Lüderitz Lobster Industry, by Werner Gühring.

Title: Historical Overview of the Lüderitz Lobster Industry
Subtitle: From Infancy to a Modern Showpiece
Author: Werner Gühring
Self published
Windhoek, 2008
ISBN 9789994568819 / ISBN 978-99945-68-81-9
Softcover, 15x21 cm, 120 pages, many bw-photos