With heavy fishing off the south of Iceland, Bergur-Huginn’s fresher trawlers have both made capacity landings twice in a row.
Vestmannaey and Bergey docked in the Westman Islands with full fishrooms on Sunday night, as they had done in the previous week, and it has been taking around 36 hours to fill up. This time the crews undergo a health check, and the trawlers are not due to sail again until Thursday.
‘We’re pretty happy,’ said Vestmannaey’s skipper Birgir Thór Sverrisson.
‘The season has been fine and fortunately we’ve managed to get away without any heavy weather or storms. This trip was 36 hours and most of that was steaming. We started on the Selvogur Bank with some heavy fishing for cod. Then there was the spawning closure and we steamed east to the Síðugrunn for haddock, and filled up there. The fact is that you have to take care not to get too much in the trawl at a time,‘ he said.
Bergey’s skipper Jón Valgeirsson said that they filled up in six tows.
‘We started with three hauls on some heavy fishing for cod. Then the areas was closed and we steamed east to the Síðugrunn and filled up in three more tows. There we had haddock and some saithe. The whole time we were trying to trying not to have too much in each haul, so this has been some really heavy fishing. The trip before wasn’t even two days. Now we get a break because of the crew’s health check, and it’s very welcome.’
Landing catches from Vestmannaey and Bergey. Image: Síldarvinnslan/Guðmundur Alfreðsson
