HB Grandi’s pelagic vessels are back on the herring fishery after a break last week. Lundey NS sailed yesterday, Faxi RE is scheduled to sail today and Ingunn AK on Thursday.
According to pelagic division manager Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, Norwegian and Faroese pelagic vessels found herring over the weekend after searching for a few days. The fishing is reported to have been along the Norwegian line at around 68°N.
The HB Grandi fleet took a break last week after approximately 2000 tonnes of herring were landed at Vopnafjördur early last week. Icelandic processor vessels have also been searching for herring in catchable amounts alongside Faroese and Norwegian vessels, but with no results until last weekend.
35,000 tonnes of herring and mackerel
So far this season, HB Grandi’s pelagic vessels have landed roughly 35,000 tonnes of herring and mackerel with a catch value of approximately a billion Isl Kr. As there have been a total of 165 fishing days this season, this gives each day at sea at a value of 6 million Isl Kr. Virtually all of the catches to date have been taken inside the Icelandic EEZ.
‘We have about 20,000 tonnes of herring quota left and expect that now the fishing has picked up again that most of this will now be taken in the Herring Loophole or in the Norwegian EEZ,’
says Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson.
