Síldarvinnslan’s pelagic vessel Börkur has delivered the last landing of the year of Icelandic summer-spawning herring to the company’s Neskaupstaður processing plant. The 1570-tonne catch is going for wholefrozen and fillet production.
Hjörvar Hjálmarsson reported that this last trip of the herring season went well, with the catch taken in five hauls off the west of Iceland.
‘We were fishing in the Kolluáll gully. It started off slowly, but there was some excellent fishing and a lot of fish to be seen there towards the end,’ he said.
‘This is the same fine-quality herring we have been seeing the whole season. It’s 300-gramme fish and looks good. This is herring that’s lively and the marks are often moving fast.’
He commented that the herring appear to be free of the parasites that have been a problem in recent years.
‘This has been a good season and the weather played a big part in that. There have been none of the south-westerlies that are unpleasant on fishing grounds off the west coast. Now we’re switching gear and the blue whiting trawl is being taken on board. We’ll probably be starting on blue whiting in the new year. There’s a possibility of searching for capelin in December and we’ll certainly be looking for it after new year. We’re optimistic, and sure there’ll be a capelin season,’ Hjörvar Hjálmarsson said.
