After landing 450 tonnes of top-quality mackerel caught around the Westmann Islands, skipper Jón Axelsson said that the next stop is Greenland.
He skippers Ísfélag Vestmannaeyja’s pelagic vessel Álsey VE-2, which was rigged earlier this year with a new 1440 metre Gloria XW self-spreading trawl with 60 metre sweeps and a 90 metre mackerel codend in a package supplied by Hampiðjan.
Also part of the setup are a pair of new Thyborøn Bluestream Type 22VK trawl doors.
‘I’d say that this is the most successful set of fishing gear we have ever had on board,’ Jón Axelsson said.
‘The gear works as if it was tailor-made for Álsey and handles extremely well. We’ve been able to do practically anything with this, and the mackerel in the trawl mouth quickly finds its way back to the codend with no obstacles.’
With a kite on the headline, the trawl stays at the surface without needing floats or wing-end weights.
‘The trawl squares away as soon as it hits the water. You can see clearly how well the self-spreading sections work in opening out the meshes and the net panels, especially in good weather and with a flat calm sea,’ he said.
‘There is a steady opening under the headline sonar with a 50 metre vertical opening and we get a spread of 130 metres. The trawl door spread is around 195-205 metres and that’s the trawl fully squared away. It won’t go any wider than that. We generally have 380 to 450 metres of warp out, which is a good length for keeping the trawl properly squared and open close to the surface,‘ he said and commented that the gear remains stable even in a 60° turn, and even when one door drops to 40 metres and the other stays in place ten metres below the surface, the trawl keeps its stable opening and catching efficiency.
