Land: Iceland

Representatives of the Icelandic Government had meetings on whaling in Washington D.C. last Friday with the U.S. State Department and the offices of the Alaskan Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich. The objective of the meetings was to react to the certification of Iceland by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce under the so-called Pelly Amendment and to inform the U.S. Government and Congress about the Icelandic whaling policy. This week the U.S. President will take position regarding the certification letter of the Secretary of Commerce who recommended that diplomatic actions be taken against Iceland due to its whaling activities.

Iceland Responsible Fisheries (IRF) is participating in ICEFISH 2011, promoting the IRF programme, the certification and the way forward in marketing of Icelandic seafood.

Total value 56.5 billion ISK
Total value of catch of Icelandic vessels amounted to 56.5 billion ISK in January-May 2011, compared with 57.6 billion ISK in the first five months of 2010. Total value decreased therefore by 1.8% between years.

So far this season around 10,000 tonnes of mackerel and herring products have been frozen at HB Grandi’s pelagic factory in Vopnafjördur, or approximately 3000 tonnes more than at the same time last year. This increase is particularly remarkable in that landings have been lower this year than last summer, mainly because Faxi RE was not able to start fishing until the early part of this month while undergoing a refit, while Ingunn AK and Lundey NS have been active in the fishery since June.

The new refrigerated sea water (RSW) system that was fitted on board Faxi RE this summer has already proved its worth according to Magnús Róbertsson, production manager at HB Grandi’s Vopnafjördur factory. He said that Faxi’s crew quickly got to grips with the new system and it is resulting in better catch quality and higher export values.

Total catch of Icelandic vessels in July 2011 was 103,531 tonnes compared to 116,942 tonnes in July 2010.