Síldarvinnslan’s capelin production has been working round the clock as pelagic vessels have been able to get to sea between bouts of heavy weather that have interrupted fishing.
The plant in Neskaupstaður has been working through a 1550 tonne landing by Börkur and 2100 tonnes landed by Vilhelm Thorsteinsson, followed by a further 400 tonnes caught by Börkur in two shots during a short break in the weather.
According to factory manager Geir Sigurpáll Hlöðversson, production has gone well, and the brighter weather forecast is a reason to be optimistic now that the fleet is fishing off the south coast.
Síldarvinnslan’s pelagic vessel Börkur was alongside again last night with a further 1000 tonnes of capelin, caught in just six hours on the fishing grounds.
‘We caught this fish in three shots. There’s a good amount of capelin to be seen and fishing has generally been good,’ said skipper Hjörvar Hjálmarsson, who reported that around 40% of the fish are females.
‘The roe content is around 14%. When it reaches 15% then it can be frozen for the Japanese market – so the Japan-grade capelin aren’t far off. Let’s hope that’ll be in the next trip. It’s looking positive now, not least because we have an opportunity to work. The storms that have been making things difficult for us recently have been pretty tiring.’
Norwegian sales organisation Sildelaget reports that close to 30,000 tonnes of the Norwegian fleet’s 48,400 tonnes quota for capelin in Icelandic waters has been caught, with catches delivered by 36 purse seiners to producers in Norway, the Faroes and Iceland.
The expectation is that the whole quota should be caught before the Norwegian fleet’s 22nd February cut-off date, as long as the weather stays fair and the capelin remain north of the 64°30’N limiting line.
