HB Grandi’s pelagic vessel Ingunn AK was Yesterday in the Faroe Islands, landing mixed herring and mackerel to the Havsbrún factory in Fuglafjördur. Ingunn had about 1900 tonnes on board, of which the greater part was mackerel. According to Robert Axelsson, who sailed as skipper this trip, they expected to have finished landing in the afternoon and to sail later in the evening.
Ingunn was pair trawling with Lundey NS for most of the last trip, apart from the first and last hauls of the trip that were taken solo. Fishing grounds were around 80 nautical miles ESE of Hornafjördur, which is a 190 mile steam to Fuglafjördur which Robert Axelsson said took 16 hours, adding that fishing has been excellent over last weekend although it slowed down at the beginning of this week.
‘Now most of the pelagic boats are looking for herring north-west of the area we were fishing on at the weekend,’ he said and commented that there was plenty of feed in the herring and mackerel, which put on weight quickly under these conditions. This is a good sign, especially when catches are landed for meal production, as a high oil content signals a good price.
According to Robert Axelsson, how much mackerel is caught with the herring can vary and in this trip the mackerel percentage was higher than usual.
’It’s not easy to see if there’s mackerel or herring in front of the gear. Mackerel sit high in the water and don’t show up well on the sounders,’ he said.
