Iceland’s capelin roe season is now in progress, the most important part of the season when the fish are in peak condition for roe to be extracted for the lucrative and demanding Japanese market, and production is now underway at several locations in Iceland, with inspectors from Japan carefully watching the quality.
‘Many of our buyers and consumers in Japan have told me that the capelin from the 2017 season was the best they have tasted from Iceland,’ said Yohei Kitayama of About Fish, VSV’s sales arm in Japan.
‘Our customers are now excited about this season’s capelin and it’s always good to know that we have eager customers,’ he said, adding that the first capelin landing to the Westmann Islands took place a few days ago when Ísleifur docked with the first fish of the season.
He commented that the 2017 season was a difficult one, with an initial prospect for a minimal quota until an extra round of surveys located enough capelin for a quota boost, and the season finished with more landed than had been expected. As a result, there are some stocks of frozen capelin in Japan from last year that could affect this year’s prices, although this is not seen as likely.
‘This is because the quota this year is less than had been expected, plus the demand is stronger than we had expected six months ago, mainly because the capelin were unusually large and good quality. Size makes a difference,’ Yohei Kitayama said, but sounded a note of warning, that the unknown quantity is the Norwegian fishery.
‘If the Norwegians catch large, good quality capelin, then that could affect the prices. But we are a step ahead that we make good use of,’ he said.
‘Our Japanese clients know that capelin fishing has begun. They’re impatient to get this year’s capelin and they don’t want to wait for the Norwegian fishery.’
