Síldarvinnslan’s veteran trawler Bjartur has completed its last full month of fishing for its owners with a total of 634 tonnes landed in July.
One of a series of ten trawlers built for Icelandic owners at Niigata in Japan in 1973, Bjartur has been in Síldarvinnslan’s ownership since it arrived new, and a sale has now been agreed with a buyer in Iran. These were among the first stern trawlers to join the Icelandic fleet and only a few are still in operation. Another of the series, Jón Vídalin, was sold to Iran earlier this year. Both Jón Vídalin and Páll Pálsson are expected to be replaced by a pair of newbuilds due to be delivered from China in the near future.
Bjartur has been carefully maintained over its 43 years of fishing for Síldarvinnslan, with a 2413 MaK main engine fitted in 1984 and in 2004 it was sailed to Poland for a major refit.
Bjartur has now been sold to Iran and will depart from Iceland at the end of August.
Skipper Steinthór Hálfdanarson said that Bjartur’s last month of fishing has been a good one.
‘We took this fish on our usual fishing grounds off the east coast in some perfect weather,’ he said.
