Vima — the largest crab processor Renat Besolov worked on

The Vima is the largest and most technological of all the vessels Renat Besolov worked on. She is a major Norwegian crab processor: at once a catching vessel and a two-storey floating factory, with everything from freezing crab to producing crab meal. Built in 1998, she was formerly a trawler and Danish seiner, able to catch pelagic fish too; hence a mass of equipment, strict rules and a high level of safety.

She sails under the Norwegian flag, carries the call sign LJBD, MMSI 259511000 and IMO number 8131453, with the registration mark VL-77-AV. She is owned by the company Opilio AS, with commercial management by Zenit Havfiske AS. She is about 78 metres long and 12 metres wide.

Renat Besolov joined the Vima at the invitation of his former captain from the Northeastern, Atle Forland. He worked the 2022 season here together with his wife Anastasia. A detailed log is below.

Figures are given per marine registries (IMO 8131453). Renat Besolov worked aboard the Vima as a deckhand (Fisherman / AB Seaman), operating the hydraulic and lifting gear.

On the Vima Renat Besolov worked as a deckhand (Fisherman / AB Seaman) and mostly operated the hydraulics and cranes at the most demanding forward station, where you control the lifting of pots from a depth of about 280 metres and many tonnes of tension.

There were constant rotations, a common uniform for the whole crew and a great deal of maintenance: greasing mechanisms, checking sluices, boats and liferafts. Besides the fishing, everyone took part in chipping ice. Renat’s ship-repair experience came in useful too.

Finding vessels, employers, vacancies and crewing options is handled through BFISHERMAN. Below is the log of Renat Besolov’s voyage aboard the Vima.

The Vima fishes snow crab in the Barents Sea, hauling pots from depths of around 280 metres. The main difference from smaller crab boats is the full processing cycle on board: the crab is not merely frozen but worked into product right down to crab meal.

The crab is sorted alive right on the table, the integrity of the pots assessed at the same time: damaged ones are sent for repair. All seamen can tie knots and mend pots; without this there is nothing to do on a crab boat.

All the technical skills of deck work — knots, pots, lines and processing the crab — are gathered in the main BFISHERMAN course. There is no getting onto the fishery without maritime STCW certificates.

The Vima is a large and comfortable vessel. The stern is enclosed and warm, while it is truly cold only on the foredeck. There is a gym on board, though after moving tonnes of pots by hand over a day you no longer feel drawn to it.

The crew is large, with constant rotations and a single uniform, which creates a feeling of a team. You can order cigarettes, snus, drinks and sports nutrition through the cook, but only beyond the 12-mile zone.

A story of its own is couples in the fleet: Renat worked the 2022 season together with his wife Anastasia Besolova, who also obtained maritime papers.

The largest vessel of his career. At about 78 metres long and 2,424 gross tons, the Vima is the largest crab processor Renat worked on.

A floating factory. A full processing cycle on board — from freezing crab to crab meal — across two levels of the plant.

Family in the fleet. Renat worked the 2022 season together with his wife Anastasia Besolova.

Anton Trellevik. Anton Trellevik worked with Renat on the Vima; at 22 he survived the shipwreck of the trawler Northguider off Svalbard in December 2018, and later became the Vima’s skipper.

Helicopter evacuation. When the mechanic was suspected of appendicitis he was evacuated by a coast guard helicopter.

Equality on deck. Everyone chips ice — from deckhand to officer: it is the safety of the whole vessel.

The Vima is the summit of the crab part of Renat Besolov’s path: the largest, most technological and best-equipped vessel, a full-cycle floating factory. He was called here by his former captain from the Northeastern, Atle Forland, and worked the 2022 season together with his wife Anastasia.

The Vima experience is work on complex hydraulics and cranes, a full crab-processing cycle and a high culture of safety. All this, together with the other vessels, became the foundation of the educational project BFISHERMAN.

Renat’s maritime path is also linked to the maritime certification Maricert. The story of the Vima is interwoven with the fates of colleagues too — from Ruben Træet to Anton Trellevik.

Want the same — to work on a crab boat in Norway? Renat Besolov walked this path himself and gathered it in the BFISHERMAN project.