According to a newsletter from the Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners (LÍÚ) all new quotas for capelin has been stopped in Icelandic waters and for capelin fishing to be permitted, at least 400,000 tons of the fish have to present in Icelandic waters. It is told that this is the first time since the 1982/1983 fishing season that a quota for capelin has not been issued.
Björn Jónsson at LÍÚ, who represented fishing vessel owners in the expedition’s organization at the Icelandic Marine Research Institute, opined that it is of course a huge disappointment because this was among the most extensive organized capelin search expeditions undertaken in recent years.
Jonsson added that the positive thing is that although we didn’t manage to find more than 385,000 tons of capelin, the fish seems to have spawned in various locations. That is hopefully an indication of a good catch in three years,” says Jonsson. It is informed that the search for capelin this season began with an expedition of research vessel Árni Fridriksson on November 17 last year. When the crew announced the discovery of a large capelin school off Iceland’s East Fjords on February 6, Minister of Fisheries Steingrímur J. Sigfússon issued a 15,000-ton search quota.
