Land: Iceland

The Minister for Foreign Affairs has appointed Ambassador Stefan Haukur

HB Grandi’s factory trawler Helga María AK docked in Reykjavík yesterday morning after spending most of the last month fishing off the south and south-west of Iceland.

HB Grandi’s fresher trawler Ásbjörn RE docked early this morning in Reykjavík with between 120 and 125 tonnes of mixed fish on board after a five-day trip. According to chief mate and relief skipper for this trip Einar Bjarni Einarsson, fishing was reasonable, although he said they still had to work for their fish.

Nearly 200 tonnes of equipment lifted into place from HB Grandi’s Vopnafjördur fishmeal facility.

‘I can say that we’ve taken something of a beating on the way home. The weather was terrible and we took it slowly,’ said skipper Gunnar Einarsson of HB Grandi’s trawler Sturlaugur H Bödvarsson AK when we spoke to him yesterday as the ship docked in Akranes.

Four Icelandic commercial vessels took part in a mackerel survey

Four international environment protection organizations protested Iceland’s whaling outside the

HB Grandi’s pelagic vessels have finished this year’s season for Atlanto-Scandian herring, having caught all of their quotas and part of the amount they are licensed to take ahead of next year’s allocation. According to Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, head of HB Grandi’s pelagic division, the herring have migrated deep into international waters to the extent that the distance to steam with catches makes it hardly possible to process and freeze the fish for human consumption.

Waters around Iceland experienced slow fishing due to bad weather, confirm local fishermen.

‘We’re in a fixed routine. We’re west of Iceland looking