‘We started fishing yesterday and took one short tow. Now we’re towing opposite Lundey NS and it’s too early to say what the results will be. There’s herring here, but it’s big fish that are easily scared,’ said Gudlaugur Jónsson, skipper of Ingunn AK, when we spoke to him at midday yesterday.
Ingunn sailed from Vopnafjördur on Saturday after landing 1850 tonnes. At the same time Lundey and Faxi RE each discharged 950 tonnes. Faxi was expected to be back at sea last night.
When we spoke to Gudlaugur Jónsson, Ingunn was in a position approximately 130 nautical miles north of Melrakkaslétta, north of 68°N. The haul that he mentioned first was taken further south and contained enough mackerel for him to decide to shift further north.
‘There’s no shortage of mackerel here either, but the proportion is less than it is further south, or so the skippers who have taken a haul here say,’ Gudlaugur Jónsson said, and added that there are eight Icelandic vessels fishing in the area.
HB Grandi’s pelagic vessels will soon start fishing in the Norwegian EEZ, where the company has a 6200 tonne herring quota.
