Westman Islands company Vinnslustöðin’s pelagic division manager Sindri Viðarsson is optimistic for this year’s mackerel season, which opened on the 13th July.
‘We have taken landings of around 4000 tonnes of mackerel since the season began, all fine quality fish with little feed in it,’ he said, adding that the sales prospects look positive and the first shipment is already on its way to Egyptian and Turkish customers.
This mackerel season ushers in a new era for Vinnslustöðin (VSV) as this year a new building fitted out with heading and filleting technology was taken into use, providing much improved facilities after a great deal of effort has gone into upgrading the company’s processing opportunities with high-tech systems.
‘Now we are working in an environment that we have been waiting anxiously for,’ he said. ‘These are big changes and this doubles our capacity. The entire production process and all catch handling is now the best it could possibly be.’
The whole of the VSV pelagic fleet is in port this weekend and production at the factory has also ended, as this weekend is the highlight of the year for the Westman Islands as the annual Thjóðhátíð music festival takes place over the next few days.
The fleet is due to be back at sea on Monday, with production expected to be resumed on Wednesday next week.
