Heavy fishing on blue whiting south of the Faroe Islands has resulted in a slew of big landings to processors in Iceland.
Pelagic vessel Hákon landed 1600 tonnes to Síldarvinnslan’s fishmeal plant in Neskaupstaður earlier this week, followed by Vilhelm Thorsteinsson with 3200 tonnes. Barði docked in Seyðisfjörður with 2100 tonnes on board and skipper Thorkell Pétursson said that the fishing doesn’t get much better than this.
‘We were at the southern end of the Grey Zone and filled up in 36 hours. The trip was five tows of around four hours each and a catch rate of roughly 100 tonnes per hour. Everyone on board is happy,’ he said.
The managers at the Seyðisfjörður and Neskaupstaður plants are no less satisfied, and are happy with the volume and quality of blue whiting being landed.
‘It’s running like clockwork. The pelagic vessels are landing fine raw material, as they are filling up quickly and cooling the catch effectively,’ said plant manager Eggert Ólafur Einarsson at the Seyðisfjörður fishmeal factory, adding that they have just shipped 2300 tonnes of meal for export.
There’s a similar tale to tell along the coast at Neskaupstaður, where plant manager Hafthór Eiríksson said that blue whiting production is going exceptionally well.
‘We have been trying out new production equipment at the factory and it has worked perfectly,’ he said.
‘I’m delighted with it and the results are excellent. Now we’re working on linking the new and old sections of the factory, and this will give us greater operational reliability as well as better throughput.’
