Blue whiting production has begun at HB Grandi’s fishmeal factory in Vopnafjörður after Venus and Víkingur docked with 800 tonnes of blue whiting, while Síldarvinnslan has taken its pelagic vessels off blue whiting for the moment.
‘They came in because there has been heavy weather on the fishing grounds and a poor forecast, so this was a smaller landing than usual,’ said HB Grandi’s Vopnafjörður factory manager Sveinbjörn Sigmundsson.
He said that the fish are excellent raw material, good quality fish in top condition, and he expects that with the company’s quota situation, they can expect blue whiting to keep them busy into next month.
‘It depends of course on how accessible the blue whiting are and the weather. I hear the season started well of Seyðisfjörður and after that the catch levels have dropped. They may have to go further off and deeper to find blue whiting, but we’ll see how it develops over the coming days and weeks,’ Sveinbjörn Sigmundsson said.
Venus and Víkingur are both back at sea, having sailed from Vopnafjörður yesterday.
Further east, Síldarvinnslan’s fleet has taken a break from blue whiting after a spell of worsening fishing.
Bjarni Ólafsson has been on blue whiting and has landed 2400 tonnes in three trips, finishing with a 700 tonne landing last week.
Beitir landed 330 tonnes last weekend, and skipper Sturla Thórðarson said that catches were poor.
‘We spent five days fishing 60 to 70 miles off and only towed in daylight. This was fishing from 7 to 5 and we drifted overnight. The blue whiting disappear once it starts to get dark,’ he said.
Bjarni Ólafsson is tied up in Neskaupstaður for the moment and Beitir has been switched to fishing grounds off the west of Iceland to search for Icleandic summer-spawning herring.
Síldarvinnslan’s other pelagic vessel Börkur has just completed a good trip on Atlanto-Scandian herring, landing 1100 tonnes after a three-day trip.
‘We started fishing in Faroese waters and followed the herring northwards, so we finished the trip in international waters, 260 nautical miles from Norðfjörður. This was taken in five hauls and the largest was 300 tonnes. As before, this is fine herring, big fish and good quality,’ said skipper Hálfdan Hálfdanarson.
Samherji’s pelagic freezer vessel Vilhelm Thorsteinssonalso docked at Neskaupstaður this week to discharge 600 tonnes of frozen herring fillets to Síldarvinnslan’s cold store.
