Pelagic vessels are at work west of Iceland to take this year’s quota of Icelandic summer-spawning herring. Fishing started well, but has slowed down – although that could change at any moment.
Síldavinnslan’s factory in Neskaupstaður took delivery of 1200 tonnes landed by Beitir, and immediately moved on to a further 1400 tonnes landed by Vilhelm Thorsteinsson.
‘Fishing has been slow recently, but that could change at a moment’s notice,’ said Börkur’s skipper Hálfdan Hálfdanarson, who is on the fishing grounds now.
‘In this fishery we expect good days and slow days. We’re fishing deep west of Faxaflói and the number of vessels fishing has increased over the last few days. These are the usual fishing grounds and there are no surprises,’ he said, adding that the herring are good quality with a 300-330 gramme weight and very little feed in them.
‘It’s a relief that the parasites that have plagued the herring for a long time appear to have practically disappeared. That’s something to celebrate. This parasitic infection has varied from year to year, and we hope that we’ve seen the last of it.
Síldarvinnslan’s production manager Geir Sigurpáll Hlöðversson commented that he’s happy with the quality of the raw material.
‘The herring we’ve been getting is good quality and is ideal for processing. We produced skinless fillets and butterfly fillets from Beitir’s catch, and some was wholefrozen. Vilhelm Thorsteinsson’s herring is all going into butterfly fillets. This season has gone well so far,’ he said.
