Guernsey States asked to rethink Leopardess £2.6m replacement

Besides fisheries protection the vessel is also available for use by police, customs, the island's electricity company and renewable energy team

Plans to replace Guernsey's fisheries patrol vessel at the cost of £2.6m should be rethought, the Confederation of Guernsey Industry has said.

A report asking for permission to release funds for the purchase of a new vessel from the Netherlands goes before the States this week.

Chairman Larry Granger said refitting the vessel locally, instead of replacing it, could save millions.

He said the building of a replacement vessel should also be done on-island.

The Leopardess is used by Sea Fisheries to enforce fishing laws in Bailiwick waters and came into service in 1998 with an expected 20-year lifespan.

It is also used in search and rescue and can be called upon to assist with harbour operations.

Mr Granger said: "Guernsey has been making boats for a couple of hundred years. Boating is part of our inheritance and part of our culture.

"We have a very, very good skill and expertise base to build boats, why spend... having a boat built somewhere else when the capability is here?"

In a letter to all deputies the group said: "Simply because the vessel is approaching the end of its design life we feel does not justify replacement. The Leopardess is not structurally at the end of her life.

"Tax-payers money should be kept in the Island to provide employment opportunities in a number of trades and professions and also realise a very significant saving."

A Commerce and Employment Department spokesman said: "Choosing the option to replace the Leopardess now is significantly better value for the Island.

"That is, while it requires the expenditure of money in the short term, in the longer term it costs less."