Greenlandic pelagic vessel Polar Amaroq is searching for capelin deep north west of Iceland.
According to mate Ólafur Sigurðsson, they have been working close to the Greenland-Iceland line, without seeing a great deal of capelin so far, with just dust to be seen on the sounders.
‘There are two million tonnes of out there, so it has to be somewhere,’ he said. ‘It’s a question of when we come across it. We’re confident about the season to come, although it would be good to have a few more pelagic vessels searching.’
He commented that Polar Amaroq is currently on the Greenland side of the line, after having had to seek shelter in port in Akureyri as a patch of heavy weather passed over.
‘We’re on our own searching a huge sea area. This is patient work,’ he said, adding that they are into their second day back at sea since sheltering in port.
‘Before the storm hit we had taken four hauls. The catch isn’t a lot, ten to 70 tonnes for a tow. The fish are frozen on board, so we have 110 tonnes of frozen capelin in the fishroom.’
Polar Amaroq is searching for capelin north-west of Iceland. Image: Síldarvinnslan/Kristján Már Unnarsson
