ANNONCER
Icelandic pelagic skippers are reporting thick concentrations of capelin off the north-east of Iceland, with the fish moving in the usual migration pattern. This could indicate a good season to come, but it depends on the results of the Marine Research Institute’s capelin survey. Initial results could be ready at the end of the week.
The Iceland Sustainable Fisheries (ISF) monkfish fishery has gained MSC certification, the first fishery for this species anywhere to be certified. This is also the eight occasion in which an ISF fishery is the first for that species to get the MSC blue tick.
‘Things are going very well. The ship and its equipment have met all our expectations and to my mind the arrival of these new trawlers is a huge step into a new century,’ said Eiríkur Jónsson, skipper of HB Grandi’s new groundfish trawler Akurey, which is now in its first trip since the catch handling deck and automated fishroom systems were fitted by Skaginn 3X in Akranes.
Four companies working within the Iceland Seafood Cluster have been recognised for their outstanding achievements in encouraging co-operation.
Iceland’s blue whiting fishery in the north-eastern Atlantic has been granted MSC certification and the blue tick of approval that goes with it. The fishery has been certified by conformity assessment body DNV GL against the MSC’s fisheries standard.
Arnar Atlason, chairman of Samtök fiskframleiðenda og útflytjenda (SFU, Iceland’s Federation of Processors and Exporters), which represents producers without their own fishing capacity, has stressed the importance of the coastal fishing scheme that has now been in place for ten years plays a key role in the supply of fresh fish.
The harbour at Norðfjörður has suddenly become too small as the capelin season has got off to a strong start with good fising off eastern Iceland between bouts of heavy weather, and some of the shipping traffic has had to be diverted to other ports.
The first capelin of the year were landed at Neskaupstaður in eastern Iceland, with 540 tonnes of frozen capelin and 450 tonnes of fresh capelin for meal production delivered by Samherji’s pelagic factory vessel Vilhelm Thorsteinsson, which sailed as soon as the landing was complete.
Síldarvinnslan’s pelagic vessels sailed from Neskaupstaður on Saturday and have found the first capelin of the season off the north-east of Iceland, before the usual research surveys have even started.
Síldarvinnslan’s production plant in Seyðisfjörður last year took delivery of 2625 tonnes of groundfish for processing; 1980 tonnes of cod and 491 tonnes of saithe.
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