ANNONCER
Marel has contracted with HB Grandi to supply a new roundfish processing system for its Vopnafjörður factory in north-eastern Iceland, which is now diversifying from being a purely pelagic operation into also handling groundfish.
It took one of HB Grandi’s trawlers only ten days to catch its quota of oceanic redfish on offshore grounds this year, before shifting back to concentrate on groundfish for the rest of its trip.
Three pelagic vessels sailed from the Westmann Islands last week on a research venture to seek out opportunities in the Irminger Sea.
East of Iceland fishing company Síldarvinnslan saw its blue whiting season come to an end last week, with a total of 65,000 tonnes landed to two factories.
A new net loft is due to start taking shape at Neskaupstaður in eastern Iceland.
Fishing has been steady, but the Icelandic fleet’s blue whiting season looks to be coming to a close, with the Seamen’s Day stopover due in early June marking the point at which much of the pelagic fleet starts fitting out for the summer herring and mackerel fisheries.
Fishing has been good on offshore redfish on the Reykjanes Ridge south-west of Iceland, although quotas have been dramatically in the last few years. With small quotas to be taken, there is no hurry to start fishing, and the season opened for the Icelandic fleet this week.
‘We spend a decent part of every trip searching for saithe in amounts that are worth fishing. That’s something that hasn’t been very successful, but there’s no problem taking our allocation of golden redfish and cod,’ said Magnús Kristjánsson, skipper of one of HB Grandi’s fresher trawlers.
HB Grandi’s pelagic vessel Venus is back on the fishing grounds after its latest landing at Vopnafjördur last week. Fishing grounds are now east of the Faroe Islands, and according to the skipper for the last trip, Róbert Axelsson, the blue whiting are following much the same migration pattern as they did during last year’s season.
Steerable trawl doors from Icelandic company Polar Fishing Gear look likely to become available later this year as the first full-scale sea trials carried out last month were highly successful.
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