Greenlandic pelagic vessels Polar Amaroq and Polar Ammassak, which are partly in the ownership of Icelandic operator Síldarvinnslan, have been fishing for capelin over Christmas.
Both sailed on 23rd December, although Polar Ammassak had to return to port for some minor adjustments to be made on board, before heading back to sea.
Polar Amaroq’s mate Ólafur Sigurðsson commented that there has been steady fishing, although during darkness there is little to be had, despite strong marks on the sounders.
‘We have been getting respectable catches during the day. We have 600 tonnes on board after three hauls. More would have been good, but that’s acceptable,’ he said.
‘We’re confident that this is going to pick up soon. The weather has been great ever since we sailed and hopefully it will stay that way. We’ll continue fishing up to New Year along with Polar Ammassak which is close by us and on their first tow. Everyone is sure that there’s a fantastic capelin season ahead and it’ll be interesting to see what happens when the rest of the fleet starts fishing in the New Year and it’ll be possible to search over a larger area.’
Polar Amaroq alongside in Neskaupstaður. Image: Hákon Ernuson
