Nine commercial fishery companies have donated in total DKK 3.2 million to Danish training institute, the Greenland Maritime Center, for investment in a state-of-the-art K-Sim Fishery simulator from Kongsberg Digital.

A first of its kind in the Kingdom of Denmark, the K-Sim Fishery simulator will enable students to gain vital competence in diverse fishery situations, including aft deck operations, and is scheduled for installation in 2020.

Introduced by Kongsberg Digital in 2018, K-Sim Fishery is based on sophisticated K-Sim Navigation simulator technology, with added functionality and instruments specific to commercial fishing, including Kongsberg Maritime (Simrad) echo sounders, sonars and trawl monitoring systems.

Reflecting Kongsberg Digital’s ability to adapt to customer requirements, the new K-Sim Fishery simulator will be built upon one of Greenland Maritime Center’s existing K-Sim Navigation bridge simulators. The upgrade will include a highly detailed fishing vessel model with advanced hydrodynamic modelling for ultimate realism in behavior and a new customized sailing area to accommodate exercises in Greenland waters.

Additionally, the extension will feature new consoles and instruments for training on maneuvering, fish finding and fish catching. Included are also instruments for aft-deck operations, to address the risk elements associated with working outside on the stern of the vessel.

“K-Sim Fishery addresses all aspects of safety and catch performance on a fishing vessel. Students will become familiar with operations at the bridge both for navigation and best practice on using the hydroacoustic systems to locate and detect the ideal catch. Further, the aft deck simulation will help to prepare crews for the hazardous work they face at sea,” says Bent Olesen, Head of Education, Greenland’s Maritime Center. “I am proud that the industry is supporting us to deliver the most advanced training for fishing vessel crews, and I am very grateful that they are committed to enabling young people to build vital sea skills.”

The companies donating and enabling Greenland Maritime Centre to augment its Commercial Fisheries Maritime Safety and Maritime Safety for Skilled Commercial Fishermen courses are; Royal Greenland, Polar Seafood, Arctic Prime Fisheries, Ice Trawl Greenland, Niisa Trawl, Qajaq Trawl, Qaleralik, Sigguk A/S and Sikuaq Trawl.

“We are proud to work with Greenland Maritime Centre and deliver training solutions that support sustainability in fishery operations. Interest in K-Sim Fishery keeps growing as more companies and training organisations understand the unique training benefits it enables,” said Tone-Merete Hansen, Sr. VP, Kongsberg Digital. “We continue to develop the system based on the industry’s training requirements and have some significant updates that will broaden the simulators application scope in the coming years.”