All of HB Grandi’s fresher trawlers are now tied up for the break in fishing and production over Christmas. The last to land its fish was Akurey which docked in Reykjavík yesterday with 130 tonnes on board, and skipper Eiríkur Jónsson is satisfied with the trip.
An independent survey by the NAFC Marine Centre UHI indicates a promising future for Shetland fisheries, locating record numbers of small haddock and increases in small cod and whiting populations. More than fifty tows were carried out this summer by NAFC’s research vessel to assess abundance of key stocks.
After long hours of discussion in Luxembourg, EU Fisheries Ministers reached an agreement on fishing opportunities for 2018 for the ten stocks in the Baltic Sea. The total allowable catches (TACs) were unanimously agreed in the framework of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which aims to have all stocks fished at sustainable levels by 2020.
Quota increases are proposed for next year for some Baltic stocks, including both western and eastern plaice and western Baltic cod, but reductions are proposed for some stocks, including western herring. The EU Commission’s proposals also include increases in Gulf of Riga herring and Main Basin salmon quotas. Reductions are recommended for the remaining stocks covered by the proposal.
ICES recommendations for North Sea demersal fisheries in 2019 show good news for saithe, hake and plaice, but the situation for cod looks confused as spawning stocks appear weaker than had been predicted, and one fishermen’s association is wondering where more than 100,000 tonnes of cod has disappeared to.
ICES has recommended that the cod quota in the Barents Sea should not exceed 674,678 tonnes next year. This is a reduction of 100,000 tonnes in relation to this year's quota. According to Geir Huse at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, a natural decline in stocks has to be taken into consideration.
‘There’s a closure along the south coast for the spawning season, so I decided we’d try our luck off the Westfjords. But it hasn’t been a great trip and cod are thin on the ground these days,’ said Eiríkur Jónsson who skippers HB Grandi’s trawler Akurey.
Setting up production for groundfish in the north-eastern port of Vopnafjörður has provided a lifeline for employment in the region. HB Grandi is the remote port’s largest employer and Vopnafjörður with its proximity to the grounds where much of the pelagic fisheries take place was chosen as the focus for the company’s pelagic processing and fishmeal production. But these fisheries are highly seasonal, resulting in fluctuations in earnings. Adding groundfish processing to the profile has taken out the peaks and troughs, providing steady employment year-round.
According to Norges Råfisklag, sales of landed fish in Norway were worth NoK11.40 billion last year, the Norwegian industry’s second highest year ever, and following the record-breaking sales figures of NoK11.50 billion in 2016. Norwegian fishing vessels accounted for NoK9.50 billion of this total, up on last year’s NoK9.10 billion figure.
Síldarvinnslan’s production plant in Seyðisfjörður last year took delivery of 2625 tonnes of groundfish for processing; 1980 tonnes of cod and 491 tonnes of saithe.