The report says that Iceland has an agreement with Norway which allows it to take a limited amount of both species from those grounds – usually between 9,000 and 10,000 tonnes. The report also states that Icelandic skipper William Sigurdsson, captain of the trawler Sigurbjorg, operating in the region with two other trawlers, the Thor and the Gnupur, radioed back: “There’s a lot of fish up there.” Skipper Sigurdsson said he only had to “dip the trawl” in the water for 20 minutes to secure enough fish for between five and six hours processing on board his vessel.
He admits that there were lots of fish in that region, all beautiful fine cod and haddock. One has to be careful to catch more than he is allowed. He believe while Iceland’s Norway quota is not huge, it does provide valuable income for those companies who are able to fish up there. Meanwhile, Iceland’s own cod fishery was recently certified as responsible and other species are set to follow. LIU, the Iceland Fishing Vessel Owners Association, is of view that 2010 was a good year for the industry, but it doesn’t expect 2011 to be as bright.
