Hampiðjan’s fishing gear sales manager Sæmundur Árnason joined Russian trawler Rybak on the Reykjanes Ridge deep south-west of Iceland to help the crew familiarise themselves with the new Gloria pelagic trawl and Thyborøn doors, and dropped right away onto some good fishing.
‘The trip worked out very well. The Russian crew were quick to get to grips with the fishing gear. My role was to assist in familiarising the crew with the gear and that went without a hitch,’ he said after having been put ashore after spending almost three weeks with Rybak’s crew
The 64 metre Murmansk-registered Rybak’s operating company had invested in a 2560 metre Gloria pelagic trawl for redfish and are using it with a pair of 3400kg, 13 square metre Thyborøn Type 15 doors.
‘We started fishing on a patch 20 to 30 nautical miles west of the EEZ limit and there had been some good fishing there for a few days. We managed four good days with two to three tonnes per towing hour,’ he said.
‘Then the weather picked up which stopped us fishing while the storm lasted and after it had blown itself out we were getting 1.5 to 2 tonnes per towing hour. Altogether we spent ten days west of the EEZ limit, and now the fishing is tight to the line.’
‘Outside the line are the foreign trawlers, mainly from Russia, but with a some from Germany, Norway and Spain there. Inside the line are Örfirisey, Vigri and Arnar,’ he said, adding up around twenty trawlers fishing around the 200-mile line.
‘All of these trawlers are using Hampiðjan’s Gloria redfish trawls, which demonstrates the position that this gear has on the market.’
Although the catch is referred to as deep sea redfish, the redfish caught on the Reykjanes Ridge close to the EEZ limit is in fact clean deep redfish.
‘It’s very good quality fish. We were fishing mainly between 300 and 450 fathoms and the catch was pure deep redfish. The genuine deep sea redfish is caught closer to the surface and not until later in the summer, if the quota lasts that long. The Icelandic quota for this year is 2019 tonnes and this has been cut significantly in recent years,’ Sæmundur Árnason said.
