Fishing for mackerel has shifted from deep in international waters, closer to the Icelandic EEZ.
According to Ólafur Gunnar Guðnason on board pelagic vessel Börkur, a few weeks ago they were fishing mackerel around 650 nautical miles from home in the international zone, but the fishery is now right on Iceland’s EEZ line.
‘There’s heavy fishing now around 240 nautical miles offshore. We were just 13 miles from the line where we hauled our last tow of the trip, and the mackerel are moving at around 3-4 knots,’ he said.
‘The last haul was 310 tonnes for a five-hour tow. This is large, beautiful mackerel, around 520-530 grammes with some feed in them. We have to work to catch mackerel, as they are easily spooked, especially in the day time.’
Börkur is on the way home with 1600 tonnes of mackerel in its tanks, and this follows a 1000 tonne landing by Beitir at the weekend, plus a 1200 tonne landing by Barði. Bjarni Ólafsson also landed 900 tonnes in the Faroes.
