Síldarvinnslan’s production of capelin roe has been continuous since 5th March, and this end of the capelin season has been ususual, with none of the expected interruptions.
‘This season has been extremely good in every way. Fishing has been good and there have been practically no delays due to weather,’ said Geir Sigurpáll Hlöðversson, who runs Síldarvinnslan’s production in Neskaupstaður.
‘The capelin the fleet has been landing is outstanding raw material and to top this, there’s the roe season. The roes are excellent quality and every aspect of production has worked well – extraction, packing and freezing. This is heading for a record season for roe here in Neskaupstaður.’
Barði has just finished landing a 2250 tonne payload, to be followed by around 1800 tonnes on board Beitir, which had previously offloaded 1000 tonnes in Seyðisfjörður. Bjarni Ólafsson is next in the queue, steaming home with 1700 tonnes in its tanks which will be split between the two processing plants.
‘We were fishing north-west of Garðsskagi and filled up in four shots. There’s a high proportion of female fish in the catch, so there should be a good yield of roe,’ said Barði’s skipper Thorkell Pétursson.
‘Now we’re getting into the later stages of the season. The capelin are starting to lie on the bottom, but there are hopes of a westerly migration. We’re heading out as soon as we’ve finished landing, and yesterday the fleet was fishing in Faxaflói and Breiðafjörður. We’re hoping what’s left of the season will be as good as what we have seen so far.’
