There has been some good fishing on the Fugløy Bank in the Barents Sea since HB Grandi’s factory trawler Therney arrived there in mid-January. According to skipper Kristinn Gestsson, the first week there was very good and since then catch rates have been reasonable.
‘We have normally done two trips a year in Norwegian waters and we expect to land this trip in Reykjavík in the middle of February, and then go straight back north again,’ he said, adding that catches have been practically clean cod with a minimal by-catch of other species.
‘This is very good cod in top condition. It’s just right for our filleting machines but it’s difficult to predict how the rest of the trip will turn out. We caught some of the spawning Lofoten fish that’s larger than the fish on the Fugløy Bank. Last year it was close to being too big for the filleting machines and some of the catch had to be hand filleted. Last year we also had a lot of haddock with the cod but this year the haddock seem to be keeping to its own areas. We’re not able to catch haddock except as a by-catch with cod, and there hasn’t been much this time,’ he said.
There has been good weather in the Barents Sea since Therney started fishing there, with one other Icelandic trawler also fishing there, Gnúpur which arrived three days ago. Múlaberg is on the way and Kleifaberg is also due to sail today for the Barents Sea.
