HB Grandi pelagic trawlers Faxi RE and Ingunn AK are currently fishing as a pair team on grounds north-east of Vopnafjördur, as is HB Grandi’s Lundey NS, which is paired against Ásgrímur Halldórsson SF. According to factory manager Sveinbjörn Sigmundsson of the HB Grandi plant in Vopnafjördur, both pairs fished well last night, with Faxi and Ingunn due in to land soon.
Lundey landed 1537 tonnes in Vopnafjördur last Saturday, of which 1000 tonnes was mackerel. Faxi and Ingunn took some excellent hauls on Friday and Saturday, according to Ingimundur Ingimundarsson of HB Grandi´s pelagic divsion, but heavy weather since Sunday has made fishing difficult, although they were able to continue searching for fishable marks of herring and mackerel. The search was rewarded last night.
‘I didn’t get confirmation of how much they have on board, but it looks like a good catch,’ said Sveinbjörn Sigmundsson, adding that he spoke to the skippers via satellite as communications were patchy and that the pair had already taken 2000 tonnes by Saturday.
Close to full capacity
HB Grandi’s fishmeal and oil production at Vopnafjördur has been running extremely well this summer and Sveinbjörn Sigmundsson says they have been running at close to full capacity since the season began. So far, landings of 25,000 tonnes of herring and mackerel have been received this summer, which he comments is an excellent result.
Now the Atlanto-Scandian herring season is approaching the point at which shore freezing can begin, but Sveinbjörn Sigmundsson doubts that it will be possible to process mackerel in the same way as the fish has a high fat content.
