After a detour to tow the damaged Vilhelm Thorsteinsson to be dry-docked in Akureyri, Síldarvinnslan’s pelagic vessel Barði headed for fishing grounds and returned with 1400 tonnes of herring.
According to skipper Thorkell Pétursson, this was the result of only 36 hours on the fishing grounds.
‘We had four hauls of 300-400 tonnes. Fishing was 90 nautical miles North-West of Garðsskagi, in perfect weather,’ he said.
‘There’s a good amount of herring to be seen. The fish keep to the bottom during daylight, but lift away from it a little in the dark and we never went above 200 metres. No it looks like the herring fishery is over.’
While Barði was away on herring, partner pelagic vessel Beitir has been gearing up for the capelin survey, alongside marine research vessels Árni Friðriksson and Bjarni Sæmundsson, which sailed on Monday and expect to spend ten days checking for signs of capelin.
‘Our search pattern is from Glettinganes and north as far as Melrakkaslétta,’ said skipper Sturla Thórðarson.
‘The search framework has been set for us and it’s a total of 360 nautical miles, which we should finish by Friday.’
This capelin survey is at the initiative of pelagic operators, who also meet the entire costs. The results of the September survey were disappointing, and there are hopes that the results of this latest survey will be a basis for the quota recommendation for the coming season to be re-examined. This was for a maximum TAC of 218,000 tonnes, of which the Icelandic fleet would have 134,000 tonnes.
