Much of the Icelandic fleet is now preparing to start searching for mackerel. Síldarvinnslan’s vessels are no exception, and crew are looking forward to the summer season.
Síldarvinnslan’s Börkur has been to Skagen for routine maintenance at the Karstensen yard and is ready to depart. Beitir is ready for sea and Barði will be sailing in the coming week.
‘I think we’re optimistic. At any rate, I am,’ said Beitir’s skipper Tómas Kárason.
‘Last year we started searching around the same time. That was first in the Loophole, and the first catches were taken in the Rose Garden, with the first landing on 1st July. I understand that Börkur is starting in international waters and we’ll be heading southwards to the Rose Garden. If there’s not much to be seen, then we’ll probably go east to the midway line and follow it north. Then the plan is for Barði to start searching, along with Vilhelm Thorsteinsson, which is sailing from Denmark with Börkur.’
He commented that the intention is for the three Síldarvinnslan pelagic vessels to co-operate in steaming in to land catches, along with the two Samherji vessels, as has been their mode of operation since 2020.
‘This co-operation works very well and it’s a rational way of operating when there are long distances to steam,’ Tómas Kárason said.
According to Síldarvinnslan’s factory manager Geir Sigurpáll Hlöðversson, everything is ready for the mackerel season to start.
‘Those staff who are coming for the season have been showing up and they should all be ready at the beginning of next week. We’ll be working three shifts of 25, so that’s a total of 75 staff, although there can be up to a hundred when we’re producing at full capacity. It’ll be good to see some landings as our herring season ended in November, and after that we had two landings of capelin from Norwegian vessels,’ he said.
‘We’re looking forward to getting back to full production. This looks exciting.’
