Icelandic processor Síldarvinnslan received landings of 25,357 tonnes of Atlanto-Scandian herring during this year’s season, with the first landing on the 11th of September and the last on 29th October.
The company had a highly successful season, not least as the herring were on fishing grounds within easy reach of Neskaupstaður throughout the season. Börkur landed 9713 tonnes in eleven landings, while Beitir also made eleven landings for a total of 10,477 tonnes. Margrét made five landings totalling 5167 tonnes. Catches were all processed for human consumption, either wholefrozen of filleted and frozen.
With the season for Atlanto-Scandian herring over, Börkur is now fishing for Icelandic summer-spawning herring and Börkur and Beitir are each expected to complete one trip on fishing grounds off the west of Iceland.
‘Hopefully we’ll be bringing a decent catch for processing to Neskaupstaður after the weekend,’ said Börkur’s skipper Hjörvar Hjálmarsson.
‘It’s about time this herring stock stabilised, and in the last few years this herring has been fished only off the west of the country. After this herring trip I expect we’ll be looking at fishing for blue whiting.’
Bjarni Ólafsson has already sailed to start fishing for blue whiting in Faroese waters.
‘The fishing has often been starting in the Faroese zone around this time,’ said skipper Runólfur Runólfsson.
‘The Faroese pelagic vessels have been getting small blue whiting, but the bigger fish can’t be far away. In past year there has often been good fishing at this time of year – although not last year when the weather was wild. We expect to be on this fishery until Christmas or for as long as there’s quota. We’re optimistic. There’s a prospect of heavy weather at the end of the week, and then it’ll improve, as it always does,’ he said.
