Land: Iceland

The Icelandic Group, Iceland’s largest seafood company, has entered all the nation’s cod and haddock fisheries into assessment under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard. If successful, all landings by the Icelandic Group will be eligible to bear the MSC ecolabel.

The fishery uses five different fishing gears to catch 160,000MT of cod and 82,000MT of haddock (2009). Fisheries outside of the Icelandic Group will be able to join the certificate at a later date if they choose in cooperation with Icelandic Group.

In a Press Conference in Brussels on 27 September 2010, Maria Damanaki, the Fisheries Commissioner of the European Union, harshly criticised mackerel fisheries by Iceland and the Faroe Islands and made unjustified allegations that have no foundation. Damanaki alleged that Iceland and the Faroe Islands are solely responsible for the fact that the total catch of mackerel this year will foreseeably exceed the sustainable level considerably. Finally, she threatened that the EU might take action with respect to Iceland and the Faroe Islands and, in particular, take the EU´s annual fisheries arrangements with those two countries under review.

HB Grandi’s pelagic factory at Vopnafjördur passed a milestone last Wednesday night as 10,000 tonnes of frozen mackerel and herring products had passed through the plant during this summer’s season. The event was celebrated with an extra-special coffee break.

Faxi RE was scheduled to dock in Vopnafjördur on Friday with 640 tonnes of fish on board, caught around 150 nautical miles north-east of Vopnafjördur. During this trip Faxi was pair trawling, first opposite Lundey NS and then with Ingunn AK, and according to Faxi’s skipper Albert Sveinsson, this method has been far more effective than with each vessel operating singly.

For decades, Marel Food Systems has worked side-by-side with some of the most forward thinking processors in the fish industry to constantly find new ways to optimize the production process. We will be exhibiting the latest products of our commitment to innovation at this year’s DanFish International exhibition in Aalborg, Denmark, 7-9 October 2009.