Z26-Avanti

English fisheries inspectors arrested and inspected five Belgian beam trawlers in the Bristol Channel. The trawlers had to stop fishing and procered to an English port. There, computers were confiscated. The crews were also arrested. A One of the trawlers inspected was the 'Z-26 Avanti' of Steve Depaepe from Damme. Skipper of the beam trawler is Clancy Snauwaert. The ship had to sail eight hours to Newlyn. The hard drives of the on-board computers were confiscated there. The fishermen were placed under arrest and considered suspicious, but they were not told what we were suspected of. Eventually, after a long wait, they were released again, but did not get the hard drives back. Without them, you cannot fish regularly. Because they did not have any spare drives on board, they had to return to Zeebrugge. All in all, there were three days of fishing loss which cost then at least 40,000 to 50,000 euros.’Minister Crevits took the matter very seriously and has visited the crew of the trawler in Zeebrugge.

The Belgiqan flagged trawler 'Avanti' lost engine power on May 7, 2023, about 3,9 nautical miles west of Lizard Point and was slowly drifting at a speed of 0, 3 knots. Upon the request for assistance, the Falmouth Coastguard deployed the RNLB 'Rose' of the RNLI Station Lizard Point, which arrived shortly after 4 p.m. The 'Avanti' had also put in a request for help from a fellow vessel in the area, which diverted to the position. The lifeboat stood by for just over an hour to ensure the vessel and its six crew members were safe until the other ship had arrived on scene and returned to the station at 6 p.m. Report with photo: https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/23506829.emergency-evacuation-fishing-boat-off-coast-cornwall/