Good fishing for blue whiting in the Faroese EEZ has brought a steady stream of landings to processing plants in Iceland.
The Síldarvinnslan plants in Neskaupstaður and Seyðisfjörður are able to maintain uninterrupted fishmeal production, and last weekend Beitir, Hákon and Vilhelm Thorsteinsson all landed full trips, closely followed by Barði with an addition 2125 tonnes.
Barði’s skipper Runólfur Runólfsson said that their catch was taken in six fairly short tows, the shortest of which was just two hours.
‘Our largest haul 480 tonnes and the smallest was 200,’ he said, adding that fishing is north of the Faroe Bank.
‘There looks to be a good amout of fish on the move and over a wiode area, although I’ve a feeling I’ve seen more there sometimes in the past. There’s a heavy current flowing there, and the more powerful trawlers are the ones that can cope with the conditions and fish the most. The blue whiting are unusually far north for the time of year, and are to the west of the Faroes, which is good. It should be in Icelandic waters in May, and we can expect to see some heavy fishing in the Rose Garden.’
He commented that there’s a queue to land catches, although it’s better for quality to keep the catch in RSW on board than in the processing plant’s storage tanks ashore.
‘The blue whiting fishery looks promising, and it’ll be a lot easier for us in every way when we can catch it in the Icelandic EEZ,’ Runólfur Runólfsson said.
