Speaking in Parliament, Icelandic minister of fisheries Kristján Thór Júlíusson confirmed that a capelin survey using three commercial fishing vessels will take place this month.
The Marine Research Institute is not in a position to use its own research vessels this month, due to current maintenance schedules, and the usual January survey planned for 15th January has been brought forward to this month.
The minister confirmed that this work will begin shortly, in an arrangement with vessel operators’ federation SFS with each of the three vessels dedicating six days to survey work with the intention of identifying the volumes of capelin observed by Polar Amaroq.
He commented that samples from Polar Amaroq’s week-long survey have been delivered to the Marine research Institute and are being analysed. While this work is not yet complete, the minister stated that indications are that there is a significant volume of mature capelin off the north-west of Iceland, extending to the east of the Kolbeinsey ridge.
According to the minister’s statements in Parliament, the Marine Research Institute considers a survey now is timely as capelin could be migrating earlier than in previous years, and in the 1980s and 90s it was usual for the capelin migration to have passed into east coast regions by December. If this is the case, the capelin could be in eastern waters by January, and in areas where surveying is problematic off the south-east coast.
Image: Hafró
