If you’re looking for a chance on a Bering Sea pollock boat this season and one of the boats that needs crew is Global Seas’ the Defender, you best grab that one in a big hurry.

You’ll get a boat that’s just gone through some extensive renovations designed to make her a better fishing boat and more comfortable for the crew. The Defender (ex-Western Venture) had been fishing for mackerel out of New Bedford, Mass., before being bought by Global Seas and taken to Pattie Marine Enterprises in Pensacola, Fla., to be converted to a Bering Sea pollock boat.

The conversion story is told in “Pumped for Pollock” in National Fisherman’s June issue, starting on page 28.

At Patti’s, the Western Venture was lengthened from 164 feet to 170 feet, primarily to give the crew more working space around the net reels.

Look at the photo of the Western Venture and the completed Defender and it’s obvious the forward deck area is now pretty much enclosed to give the crew a drier, safer work area.

Instead of hauling a cod end plugged with pollock up a stern ramp, the Defender will pump fish aboard from a net. It’s a style of fishing used in Europe and the U.S. East Coast but is not widely accepted in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. Of course, the goal is to deliver a better product to the dock.

The Western Venture couldn’t have been converted at Patti’s if the shipyard hadn’t just built a new railway. The Western Venture was the first boat hauled on Patti’s new marine railway. In fact, the 164-foot Western Venture is the biggest boat ever hauled at Patti’s shipyard.

But read more about it in National Fisherman’s June issue.