Shetland pelagic vessel Research LK-62 has completed three trips for MSC certified North Sea herring, landing into Peterhead.
Research sailed on 12th July and has landed 180-, 470- and 450-tonne trips in short order, each one with the catch taken in three tows. A couple more trips will be enough to finish the vessel’s quota.
‘As we headed back to Peterhead, we detected an abundance of herring on our fish finders, which were most probably smaller herring, and which bodes well for the future health of the stock. There seems to be plenty of herring about south-east of Fair Isle,’ said mate Richard Willamson.
This abundance observed by Research is reflected in the 2027 ICES advice for a 21% quota increase next year.
Normally, Research fishes later in the season towards the end of August and into September for the herring roe fish market, but moved their activity to July to keep the Lunar processing facility busy by filling the temporary supply gap left by the company’s Lunar Bow PD-265 having just been sold to Norway. New vessel Pathway PD-165 is nearing completion and the new Lunar Bow is expected to be completed in late 2027.
Just prior to being sold, Lunar Bow participated in a fishery in June for the premium Dutch maatjes market. Following Lunar Bow’s short fishery, Research was the next Scottish vessel to head to sea for herring, with the rest of the fleet doing so over the coming weeks.
North Sea herring is one of the longest running MSC certified fisheries in the UK, having first been certified in 2008. Scottish herring vessels also participate in the pioneering Scottish Pelagic Industry-Science Data Collection Programme, which has now become the main source of biological data on pelagic fish catches in Scotland, and which is used in the ICES stock assessment process.
