Most of the Icelandic fleet’s fishing for mackerel is now in international waters just beyond the 200 mile limit as a heavy migration of herring in the Hvalbakur area has made fishing for mackerel difficult in home waters.
HB Grandi’s Víkingur is about to land 900 tonnes of mackerel in Vopnafjörður, while Venus sailed at midday today after landing an 800 tonne payload for processing at HB Grandi’s pelagic factory there.
According to Víkingur’s skipper Hjalti Einarsson, they had taken two hauls in the Hvalbakur area for 200 tonnes of mackerel before deciding to switch to fishing grounds outside the EEZ.
‘We had mackerel during the day, but as soon as darkness fell, the herring came up. It was impossible to tell if we re fishing on herring or mackerel, so we decided to shift to other grounds. There had been good fishing just on the Herring Loophole line but when we got there the fishing had dried up. But there was some good fishing further south and east, and we finished up there last night,’ he said, adding that there is a big fleet fishing in that area, with a large number of Russian vessels as well as those from Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
‘We had our catch in five hauls over two days, said Venus’s skipper Kristján Thorvarðarson. He commented that they had been fishing just east of the line dividing the Icelandic EEZ and international waters.
‘This is all good, fat mackerel. But the fish are moving fast and it’s not easy to keep up with them. Fishing was also demanding, as mackerel can play tricks on you,’ he said, adding that he expects to be around 24 hours on the way to fishing grounds.
At Síldarvinnslan’s east coast factories Beitir landed 765 tonnes and Bjarni Ólafsson docked with 400 tonnes of mackerel yesterday, both of them with catches caught on home grounds inside the Icelandic EEZ, while Börkur is steaming home with a further 950 tonnes caught in international waters 270 nautical miles from Norðurfjörður.
Factory vessels Vilhelm Thorsteinsson and Hákon have yesterday landed 400 tonnes and 730 tonnes of frozen mackerel products to Síldarvinnslan’s cold store, while 4500 tonnes of frozen product was being shipped out to reefer vessels for export.
