Pelagic vessel Vilhelm Thorsteinsson has called at Síldarvinnslan’s Neskaupstaður processing plant to offload the first catch of the Icelandic fleet’s mackerel season, delivering 1040 tonnes – and production began right away.
According to skipper Guðmundur Jónsson this is large, good-quality mackerel averaging around 470 grammes, and around 15% of the 1040 tonnes landed, around 15% was herring.
‘We working in co-operation with Margrét and the Síldarvinnslan pelagic boats Börkur, Beitir and Barði. The first round of hauls gave us 890 tonnes, with Barði and Margrét working as a pair team. Then we had a 140 tonne haul to top this,’ he said.
‘They’ve been fishing well since we headed home. The fishing area is in international waters, right up by the Norwegian line and the number of fishing vessels there is growing fast. The whole Icelandic fleet is up and running and we can see there’s going to be plenty of traffic there.’
The fish landed this time by Vilhelm Thorsteinsson went straigh tinto production at Síldarvinnslan’s plant.
‘The fish looks good. Production got off to a good start, with these mackerel headed and wholefrozen. It naturally takes a little while to get everything up and running at the start of a season, but it’s going well,’ said production manager Geir Sigurpáll Hlöðversson
‘Now we’re looking forward to good, steady fishing and hope that mackerel will also be found inside the Icelandic EEZ.’
