Sardine fisheries in Spain and France are to have their MSC certification suspended from 12th March following audits that have concluded fishing effort is inconsistent with achieving MSY, despite both of these stocks in the Bay of Biscay being judged healthy.
A partly outfitted, Skipsteknisk-designed pelagic trawler for Shetland owners has set off from Gdansk for the Larsnes Mek Verksted yard in western Norway which will fit out and complete the 75 metre vessel.
Wärtsilä will provide both the design package and the main engine and propulsion for a new pelagic vessel to be built in Spain for Scottish owners.
The Poseidon trawl doors that have been a long-term development project for Polar Trawl Doors have finally had the opportunity to show what they are capable of on a pelagic vessel fishing for blue whiting south-east of the Faroes.
Iceland’s minister of fisheries Kristján Thór Júlíusson has signed off regulations regarding the Icelandic fleet’s quotas for blue whiting and Atlanto-Scandian herring for 2019. At present there is no agreement with the Faroe Islands for Icelandic vessels to catch any of these quotas in Faroese waters.
Larsnes Mek Verksted has delivered a new Rolls-Royce-designed purse seiner/seiner netter to fishing company Hovden Senior, based at Kjødepollen in western Norway. This is the company’s third newbuild since 1996, and replaces a 2007-built vessel.
The Icelandic pelagic fleet has tied up for the year after finishing on blue whiting, just as heavy weather hit the fishing grounds and catch rates had dropped away.
The reciprocal access agreement struck between the EU and the Faroe Islands hasn’t been universally welcomed, and Scottish fishermen’s organisations are furious at the outcome that allows the Faroese fleet to catch a third of its mackerel quota in EU waters.
Norwegian fishing company Cetus AS, based at Vea on the island of Karmøy, has placed an order for a new pelagic trawler/purse seiner to be built at Fitjar Mek. Veksted.
Samerji’s pelagic freezer trawler Vilhelm Thorsteinsson docked in Neskaupstaðar this week with 570 tonnes of frozen Atlanto-Scandian herring on board, making its last landing under the Icelandic flag before being delivered to its new owners in Russia.