There has been some heavy fishing on herring in Norwegian waters, with 18,000 tonnes reported last week.
The local fleet reported 15,000 tonnes of Atlanto-Scandian herring caught around 66°N, while foreign vessels took an additional 3000 tones. The Norwegian Sea herring are reported to be of a good size at 304 to 385 grammes.
Catches by foreign vessels include four Irish and Danish boats, including a record 2150 tonnes landed in Norway by Danish pelagic flagship Ruth, with one of the most valuable pelagic payloads ever landed in a Norwegian port.
Further south the North Sea herring fishery came to 11,400 tonnes caught around 56°N, and this was herring with an average weight of 182 grammes.
Mackerel catches over the last week were a reported 11,500 tonnes, of which 9660 tonnes were taken by other vessels and only 1840 tonnes by the Norwegian fleet, all taken in the EU zone east of Orkney and Fair Isle.
There was also some excitement over horse mackerel last weekend, and 450 tonnes were caught, as well as an additional 190 tonnes caught as by-catch with industrial fisheries.
The sprat fishery saw 85 tonnes taken in the outer reaches of Oslo fjord and landed to a Swedish buyer, plus 25 tonnes of North Sea herring were also caught as a by-catch.
