As the Icelandic fleet’s mackerel season came to an end, east coast company Síldarvinnslan quickly deployed to of its vessels to fish for blue whiting, with Barði landing 1800 tonnes and Beitir 2600 tonnes earlier this week.
Part of Beitir’s catch of large blue whiting was set aside for frozen production. The high fat content and proximity to fishing grounds inside the Icelandic EEZ, along with the large sizes, are seen as making it worthwhile to try wholefreezing blue whiting.
Production manager Oddur Einarsson commented that the blue whiting lande dis excellent raw material.
‘This blue whiting is wholefrozen, and this is large, fine-quality fish. We haven’t frozen blue whiting here since 2012. What makes the difference is that fishing is so close. The boats only have to steam six hours from fishing grounds and the catch we are processing is very well chilled,’ he said.
Beitir’s skipper Ólafur Gunnar Guðnason said that in recent years fishing for blue whiting hasn’t usually started until late September.
‘The bulk of our catch was taken in six tows of 360-460 tonnes, with the gear in the water for between six and twelve hours,’ he said.
‘We landed 460 tonnes chilled and production started as soon this was offloaded. It’s luxury, fishing in this area, as there were only 70-80 nautical miles to Norðfjörður when we set off home.’
Barði’s skipper Theodór Haraldsson reported that they sailed on 21st August and were just four and a half days port-to-port.
‘The catch was six tows of mostly around ten hours, for 220 and up to 350 tonnes. This has been good fishing and the weather helped, as it’s been flat calm the whole time,’ he said.
