‘When fishing on herring and mackerel starts, we aim to be able to produce mackerel for human consumption at the pelagic factory. So far, mackerel has been used to make fishmeal. By freezing headed and eviscerated mackerel, we expect to be able to fetch significantly better prices, as frozen mackerel is a high-value product,’ said production manager Magnús Róbertsson at HB Grandi’s Vopnafjördur factory.
Fishing on mackerel and Atlanto-Scandian herring is expected to start around the middle of next month and Magnús Róbertsson said that they have been hard at work to alter the production lines to allow them to produce mackerel alongside herring. Over the last few years the boats that have been seeing increasing amounts of mackerel with their catches of herring, to the point that there can be more mackerel than herring.
‘We have bought a pair of new, completely automatic filleting machines that are being prepared now. This means that we have seven filleters, of which three are fully automatic. The new machines should cope better with larger fish, such as the larger grades of mackerel, and these machines are to be used to fillet herring while they can head and eviscerate mackerel. To make this simpler, we will have two sets of gradings, with two grades for herring and two for mackerel,’ Magnús Róbertsson said, and added that the suction equipment for the mackerel production is also being set up now.
‘The way this works is that the mackerel are headed and suction eviscerated straight afterwards,’ Magnús Róbertsson said.
