By the end of February, Iceland’s winter season capelin fishery would normally be underway, but this year repeated acoustic surveys have so far not indicated a strong enough presence of this fickle little fish in Icelandic waters.
A strong capelin season means a substantial financial boost for pelagic operators, as well as for communities and local authorities in the east of Iceland where the pelagic sector is most firmly established. A capelin season provides both a bulk fishery that goes to both frozen and fishmeal production, while the last few weeks of the season when the capelin roe is at the right stage of maturity results in a short high-value season with production for the discerning and lucrative Japanese market.
Although the likelihood of a capelin season this winter appears to be growing slimmer by the day, a further survey is taking place now off Iceland’s northern coast, and marks identified off the south-east of the country last week were judged to not show a strong enough capelin presence for a quota to be allocated.
Fishmeal producers in Eastern Iceland are currently relying on landings of blue whiting from Faroese waters to maintain production, and now Síldarvinnslan has dispatched Beitir and Börkur, two of the largest pelagic vessels in the fleet, to try for blue whiting west of Iceland.
It’s a three-day steam each way, with heavy fishing to be had outside the Irish EEZ, where there’s already a substantial fleet at work.
‘There’s been heavy fishing there, and also further to the south. These are very dense marks and this is fishing that calls for care. We’re using a smaller trawl than usual, with a stronger codend and belly. This all places huge tensions on the fishing gear. Some trawlers are towing for just three to five minutes on the densest marks,’ said Beitir’s skipper Tómas Kárason, adding that he’s still hoping to see a capelin fishery in home waters this year.
‘We haven’t given up on the hope of a capelin season. There’s no knowing if it could show up and we could see a rush of fish into the Húnnaflói Deep, as happened last year. We have to stay optimistic,’ he said.
