All of HB Grandi’s factory vessels are now fishing deep north-west of the Westfjords along with five other trawlers, searching for elusive Greenland halibut on fishing grounds off the edge of the Hali area.
There has been some good fishing at intervals, but with no consistent strong catch rates, according to Haraldur Árnason, skipper of Höfrungur III.
‘We started the trip in the Skerja Deeps and what we call home grounds. We had five days there and did fairly well, mainly on silver smelt. After that we shifted northwards to the Hampidjan Square and tried for Greenland halibut without much success,’ he said, commenting that the fleet has not yet built up a picture of the spread of the fish.
‘Júlíus Geirmundsson was first on the scene this time and although catches haven’t been anything special so far, they are good enough for us. We’ve noticed some deep redfish this trip and my feeling is that there was more of this about this time last year,’ Haraldur Árnason said and added that Höfrungur III is scheduled to dock for discharging in Reykjavík on the 10th or 11th of May.
