Iceland’s blue whiting season has taken off after a slow start. The fishing is mainly in Faroese waters and although fishing was slow to begin with, but have increased steadily as the blue whiting migrate into the Faroese EEZ.
Pelagic vessels run by Síldarvinnslan have made some big landings in the last few days, with Börkur landing 2250 tonnes in Neskaupstaður, Bjarni Ólafsson arriving in Seyðisfjörður with 1700 tonnes on board, followed by Beitir with 3000 tonnes. These have been followed by the arrival in Neskauðstaður of former Síldarvinnslan pelagic vessel Birtingur, now fishing under the Polish flag as Janus, with 1350 tonnes and Hákon with 1650 tonnes.
The HB Grandi fleet has also been fishing hard on blue whiting, with Venus landing 2500 tonnes the the company’s fishmeal production plant in Vopnafjörður, followed by Víkingur a few hours later with full tanks. Both had sat out poor weather for a few days in Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands, returning to sea after the weather dropped away to improved catch rates as the blue whiting migrate from the EU zone into Faroese waters.
