Four Icelandic commercial vessels took part in a mackerel survey off the south and south-east of Iceland, orchestrated by the Marine Research Institute. HB Grandi’s purser-trawler Ingunn AK took part in this survey, which has now come to an end, said the company’s head of pelagic operations, Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson.
Altogether Ingunn carried out eight hour-long tows in the northern part of an area defined by the Marine Research Institute off the east coast. According to Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, they found mackerel in several of the tows as well as amounts of mixed herring, both Icelandic summer spawning herring and Atlanto-Scandian herring.
In addition to Ingunn, Hoffell SU, Kap VE and Sighvatur Bjarnason VE took part in the survey.
The objective was to establish how long into the autumn mackerel remain in Icelandic waters and to monitor the migration routes as the fish withdraw to winter grounds in the North Sea and off the north and west of Britain. The area chosen for the survey extends from the coastal shelf off the south-east of Iceland out to the 200 mile limit between 65°30’N and 63°00’N. It is believed that this is the area that mackerel been in Icelandic waters from the south-west corner and all around the south and east of the country to the north coast will migrate through as it leaves the Icelandic EEZ.
