Fisheries Cooperation Training Ship ‘Intermares’ (A-41)

The recently commissioned Navy ship ‘Intermares’ (A-41) is a fisheries cooperation training vessel originally built for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 2009. After several years of activity with that Ministry the A-41 has been transferred to the Spanish Navy.

An agreement between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, by which the co-ownership of the ship was transferred to the Navy, will allow it to be registered in the Official List of Spanish Navy Ships. The inter-ministerial agreement set out the conditions for the transfer of the ship and aimed at providing the reference framework for joint use, based on a mixed exploitation model of shared use and costs.

In addition to the standard missions of the ship, the ‘Intermares’ will be used as a new training ship. The ship will continue to carry out the fisheries protection missions started almost 10 years ago. The tasks include operations related to the extractive and processing activities of fish, and the execution of theoretical and practical training campaigns in Latin American and African countries.

In this way, the Spanish Navy will collaborate with national maritime interests when the ship conducts fisheries cooperation missions.

From the point of view of a Spanish Navy training ship, the ‘Intermares’ has accommodation capacity for up to 40 students who will live on board at sea with up to 7 teachers. These students will be able to combine their academic education with their training afloat.

In her role as a fisheries cooperation vessel with students from those countries with which Spain or the EU has fisheries agreements, the ship has state-of-the-art technological equipment with specialized classroom-workshops aimed at training on EU hygienic-sanitary regulations. Others workshops are for training in repair and maintenance of mechanical and electrical equipment of trawlers; navigation simulators as well as a complete fish processing and canning plant.

She also has a versatile auxiliary boat from which nautical-fishing training is taught so that the students may get acquainted with the different fishing methods. This small vessel with a displacement of 45 tons and a length of 17 meters has the most common fishing gear; namely tools for trawling, seine, bottom and surface longlines, gillnets and pots, among others.

The ship boasts a series of modern teaching equipment to instruct future inspectors at all levels, from the fishing process to the control of the arrival of fish to the market in good sanitary condition.

The ship boasts ample theoretical and practical teaching assets, among them:

• Accommodation capacity for 40 students and 7 teachers.
• Two fully equipped audiovisual rooms.
• Mechanical workshop.
• Swimming-pool for diving and rescue drills.
• Laboratories.
• Library.
• Conference room for 60 people.
• Gym.
• Double cabins with study tables.
• Leisure areas with cafeteria and TV room.

Displacement: 3,200 tons.

Length: 79.2 meters.

Width: 6.5 m.

Draught: 5.5 m.

Speed: 15.6 knots.

Range: 20,000 miles

Propulsion: 1 General Electric diesel engine; One 3.5 m propeller.

Commissioning: 2009, and delivery to the Spanish Navy in 2018

The ship’s home port is La Graña Naval Station (Ferrol NW Spain)

During the last year, the ‘Intermares’ conducted many training activities with students from different Spanish Navy schools and academies; among them:

• First navigations of new Navy students.
• Navigations with students of different courses and specialties.
• Celestial navigation courses for Naval Academy students.
• Final course for midshipmen and for candidates to the Naval Academy.

In the last years, the ‘Intermares’ has organized training courses for national and international fisheries observers in Asturias and Alicante.

The ‘Intermares’ has taken part in the activities organized on the occasion of the Spanish Presidency of the EU in 2023, welcoming on board European Ministers and State Secretaries in Vigo and Málaga.