HB Grandi has decided to send veteran purse seiner Víkingur AK to fish on capelin. The ship has been in port in Akranes since last summer when it was used to transport herring catches. The decision was taken early yesterday and Víkingur was on its way around midday.
Víkingur has not been active since 2008, apart from a couple of trips in a purely transport role with herring catches to the Faroes last year. There were no difficulties in finding a crew under skipper Magnús Thorvaldsson, who was skipper on Sunnuberg NS in the past.
The reason for making use of Víkingur is that HB Grandi’s aim is to steer as much of this season’s capelin catches as possible into roe production and freezing for the Japanese market. The development of the roe in the capelin, which is now being caught in Faxaflói Bay, is now suitable for the Japanese market, so the decision has been taken to fish capelin at full capacity.
HB Grandi has a capelin quota of 20,000 tonnes this year, of which 6500 tonnes had been caught yesterday. Roe separation and production is carried out at the freezing plants at Akranes and Vopnafjördur, which received its first capelin landing this week when Faxi RE arrived with full tanks.
