Síldarvinnslan’s trawler Bergey docked yesterday with 70 tonnes of fish on board, mostly haddock caught off the east of Iceland. What makes this landing remarkable is that these tonnes saw the trawler’s total catch value tick past the ISK10 billion milestone.
Since it was delivered new in August 2007, Bergey has landed 39,050 tonnes of fish, with a total catch value over those years of just over ISK10 billion, equivalent to €73 million. Bergey and sister trawler Vestrmannaey are operated by Síldarvinnslan’s subsidiary Bergur-Huginn.
Commenting on this success, skipper Jón Valgeirsson said that it’s the result of a good crew and a good ship, with a good company behind them.
‘A good crew makes a real difference and there hasn’t been much crew turnover here,’ he said.
‘The crew seem to be happy here. This ship has always fished well and after Síldarvinnslan bought the company there has been more quota available, and that makes a difference as well. From the start we have focused on haddock and have worked mostly around the Westman Islands, off the south coast and to the east. We haven’t been to the west much in the last few years.’
He added that Vestmannaey has been just as successful. Delivered in April 2007, it also passed the ISK10 billion milestone last summer.
Jón Valgeirsson took over as skipper at the beginning of 2014 from Sigurður Guðbjörn Sigurjónsson.
‘I took over a successful ship,’ Jón Valgeirsson said, adding that there are exciting events on the horizon as the company is expecting to take delivery this summer of two new fishing vessels being built in Norway to replace Vestmannaey and Bergey.
