This year’s mackerel season is getting underway for Icelandic east coast company Síldarvinnslan, with the first landing of the year due today.
Preparations have been in progress at the company’s Neskaupstaður factory where there will be three shifts working around the clock.
Margrét sailed last week and is due to dock in Neskaupstaður today with 840 tonnes of mackerel on board.
‘We took the first haul on Wednesday morning and south of the Westman Islands and that was 300 tonnes,’ skipper Birkir Hreinsson said.
‘The next three tows were in the same area, but were much less; 80, 110 and then 20 tonnes. So we shifted further to the east and had two tows on the Katlagrunn grounds, 190 tonnes and then 120 tonnes. We can say that this first trip of the mackerel season has worked out well and everyone on board is very happy to be back at sea. We docked in Akureyri on the 14th of May at the end of the blue whiting season and the ship has bene tied up since.’ he said, adding that it isn’t easy to figure out how much mackerel there is moving around Iceland.
‘It’ll show up in a certain area, and then vanish. One moment there’ll be heavy fishing, and then nothing. That’s the way it is.’
Síldarvinnslan’s other vessels are also busy, and Beitir started fishing on Thursday while Börkur made a start yesterday. Bjarni Ólafsson is in port and preparing to sail.
