‘Fishing was fine and we were only 48 hours on the fishing grounds. But it’s still a long way to fetch this fish. It’s 48 hours steaming each way,’ said skipper of Lárus Grímsson of pelagic vessel Lundey NS when the ship docked last night with between 1400 and 1500 tonnes of blue whiting from international waters deep south of Iceland.
According to Lárus Grímsson, the fish are in good condition, although fishing tends to be limited to small patches.
‘The trawlers tow in a row, all on the same course and it’s as well not to lose the track or you miss the fish. In these areas the blue whiting keep to the deep banks at 250 to 300 fathoms. Normally it’s easier to catch blue whiting in daylight, but now it appears that fishing is better as night falls and over the night,’ he said and added that there weren’t many other vessels to be seen during this trip and that there are fewer Russian trawlers than have been in the past.
There will certainly be enough to keep HB Grandi’s fishmeal production in Akranes busy in the coming days as Ingunn AK is due with a full load of blue whiting, and Faxi RE took its last haul of the trip this morning to steam home, also with a full load. Faxi is expected at Akranes tomorrow night. There are around 11,000 tonnes of HB Grandi’s blue whiting quota left to be caught.
