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Ullapool i centre to close
The Ullapool News received this response from VisitScotland regarding a request for a statement explaining the closure of Ullapool iCentre.

Good afternoon,  Thanks for your email.
I can confirm that Ullapool iCentre will close on 28 September 2024. More information about the changes to how we provide visitor information can be found here: https://www.visitscotland.org/news/2024/icentre-closure- programme
I hope this is helpful.
Kind regards,
Regional Corporate Press Officer, Corporate Press Team, VisitScotland

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Harbour News 26 June – 29 July 2024 157 arrivals for the period.

Whitefish totalled 10,000 boxes from ten Scottish trawlers, one Anglo long-liner and one freezer netter. The Scottish fleet has largely returned east for their annual refits with only a handful of vessels continuing to fish at Rockall for haddock, monkfish and squid. Fishing has been mixed with abundant juvenile haddock on the grounds combined with a bycatch of squid and monkfish. The Rockall haddock quota for next year has been increased by 700% in line with the massive recruitment to the stock in the past 18 months. The Anglo fleet is likewise at home for the summer holidays with only two landings for the period. The long-liner Antonio Maria landed a lorry-load of fresh hake and ling from the shelf edge and the freezer netter Eder Sands landed three lorry-loads of processed-at-sea frozen monkfish.
Shellfish activity was once again busy. There were seventy-five landings from visiting prawn trawlers, a single landing from a scallop dredger combined with the local prawn and lobster catches. Prawn fishing in the Minches has been very good over the past few weeks with trawlers landing as high as 500 boxes for their seven-day trips.
Non-fishing was predominated by aquaculture and cruise shipping. Forty-seven aquaculture vessels called in for crew changes, fuel, equipment, repairs, layovers and to land salmon for onward transport to the processors in Dingwall. Seven cruise ships made scheduled calls in reasonable weather along with the cable survey vessel Mintake which called in for equipment and the Dutch tall ships Flying Dutchman (pictured) and Artemis who called in for crew and passenger changeovers.
The leisure sector is a new trade for the harbour and lessons are being learned daily about how to make the Ullapool offer as memorable as possible. Feedback has been very good; a couple of positive features have been published in yachting periodicals highlighting the pontoons and services on offer. There have been several nights on which all seven-visitor pontoons have been occupied with the overspill taking up the twelve harbour trot moorings.

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FLOW COUNTRY ADDED TO LIST OF NATURAL WORLD HERITAGE SITES
Commenting on the recent announcement from Department for Culture, Media and Sport and UNESCO on the Flow Country, which includes RSPB Forsinard Flows, being inscribed on the list of natural World Heritage sites:
Anne McCall, director of RSPB Scotland said: “This is fantastic news, the Flow Country is now listed alongside the Great Barrier Reef, Yellowstone National Park and the Galápagos Islands as one of fewer than 250 natural World Heritage Sites. On the surface the Flow Country is breathtakingly beautiful, and internationally important for upland breeding birds including Red-throated Diver, Golden Plover and Greenshank, along with Hen Harriers and Golden Eagles soaring overhead. While under the plants and lochans the peat contains more carbon than all of the forests of the UK combined. It is a place that demonstrates how the way we manage our land can tackle the nature and climate emergency.”

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Saturday 3 August
ULLAPOOL GARDEN OF REFLECTION SUMMER AFTERNOON TEA in aid of garden funds 2 – 4pm at the Macphail Centre see page 28
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Sunday 4 August GARDEN OPEN 2 DURNAMUCK 11 – 4pm Proceeds to Scotland Garden Scheme and Scottish Air Ambulance