email editor
Icelandic pelagic boats fishing herring are making steady landing according to reports from fish processors. Photo: Síldarvinnslan/Þorgeir Baldursson
The Icelandic pelagic fleet were making good fishing on this seasons herring fishery this week according to reports from fish processors LVF and Síldarvinnslan.
The LVF fishing boat, Hoffell SU landed 500 tonnes of herring on Tuesday 05 September at the company’s processing plant in Fáskrúðsfjörður. Remarkably, the crew of the boat took less that 24 hours to make the catch leaving at 16.00hrs on Monday 04 September, and arriving back in port at 13.00 hours on Tuesday.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Börkur NK arrived at the Síldarvinnslan factory in Neskaupstaður with 1,470 tonnes of herring. The unloading from the vessel commenced at 10.00pm evening, marking the completion of herring processing on the Barði NK.
The Síldarvinnslan website interviewed Captain Hálfdan Hálfdanarson on the Börkur and first asked where the catch had been made. He said, ‘We were out on the Héraðsflói by Glettinganestotuna. Herring can be found far and wide in these waters. Ships have also been getting good catches in Bakkaflói’s depths. It’s quite common to find herring here in the east. The catches on this trip went well, with fair weather throughout the journey. It went smoothly and comfortably. There’s a fair amount of Icelandic summer-spawning herring in the catch, around 15-25% in each haul. The herring available is truly beautiful, and it’s a dream location to conduct these fisheries, 40-60 miles from home. In fact, it’s considered a luxury fishery. Herring has been caught there at this time of year every year for the past decade, and we can be thankful for that. There’s a bright future ahead for these fisheries.”
The herring fisheries of the Síldarvinnslan ships are managed based on the capacity of the herring chain of the herring processing plant. Síldarvinnslan’s othe fishng vessel, the Beitir NK headed out to fish on Tuesday and is expected to catch enough herring to keep the plant processing over the weekend.
