News - page 10

Herring has a reputation as a tricky customer, as Arnthór Hjörleifsson, skipper of Lundey NS, would agree. When Lundey arrived on fishing grounds yesterday evening there were strong herring marks to be seen deep west of Snæfellsnes. Two shot tows yielded 460 tonnes of fish, but today there was nothing to be seen...

‘We have between 900 and 1000 tonnes of herring on board that we had in four hauls south of the Látragrunn Shallows, deep west of Snæfellsnes,’ said Róbert Axelsson, chief mate on board Ingunn AK when we spoke to him earlier today. Ingunn was then steaming to Vopnafjördur with the first of this season’s Icelandic summer-spawning herring from the fishery that began last week...

Freezer trawler Höfrungur III AK docked in Akureyri late last night, as the ship is there for dry-docking. The vessel docked in Reykjavík last Monday with 9500 cartons in its fishroom, after having completed a half-landing in Reykjavík ten days earlier, making the trip’s total 12,300 cartons...

The HB Grandi fleet’s herring and mackerel catches this summer total 33,400 tonnes. This is a small increase compared to last summer’s catches when the fleet landed 32,400 tonnes...

One of HB Grandi’s pelagic vessels, Faxi RE, was yesterday still fishing herring deep off the east of Iceland. Lundey NS was then steaming home, having finished its last trip of the season and Ingunn AK had already finished its season, docking at Vopnafjördur on Monday with 900 tonnes on board that has now been pumped ashore...

‘The trip started slowly and it seems that the herring are moving out of the shallow. As soon as we shifted into deeper water the fishing improved and there was some good fishing last night,’ said Stefán Geir Jónsson, who is skippering Lundey NS for this trip, when he arrived  in Vopnafjördur this morning. He estimated a catch of around 560 tonnes, of which 100 tonnes is mackerel caught the night before last.

HB Grandi’s fresher trawler Ásbjörn RE is now alongside at Siglufjördur in the north of Iceland, landing fish from its latest trip. According to skipper Fridleifur Einarsson, this is the first time, as far as he knows, that one of the company’s trawlers has called at Siglufjördur with its catch...

‘Fishing has been fine, but after the weather took a turn for the worse last Sunday there have been poor conditions at sea and it has made it more difficult. We were at Vopnafjördur on Saturday and had been fishing well before the weekend,’ said Ingunn AK’s skipper Gudlaugur Jónsson when we spoke to him as they were finishing landing...

Mackerel fishing has begun to slow down after some excellent catches this summer. According to Hjalti Einarsson who is skippering Faxi RE this trip, the mackerel are inclined to disappear down to the sea bed and are more of a problem to catch...

‘We’re not complaining about the catch rates and we’re fishing to maintain our 52 to 53 tonne daily production capacity on board. The mackerel are fine fish, clearly well fed and the fat content is high according to the newest samples,’ said Örfirisey’s skipper Trausti Egilsson when we spoke to him with Örfirisey located in the Kolluáll gully west of Snæfellsnes...

Fresher trawler Sturlaugur H Bödvarsson AK is now steaming home from Westfjords fishing grounds with between 110 and 115 tonnes of fish on board. The trawler was off Bardi when we spoke to skipper Eiríkur Jónsson, with an ETA in Reykjavík early tomorrow morning...

Fresher trawler Sturlaugur H Bödvarsson docked today after a mackerel trip south of Reykjanes, landing 45 tonnes after two days at sea. According to this trip’s skipper, Magnús Kristjánsson, fishing was fairly slow but the mackerel is of both good size and quality...

HB Grandi’s fresher trawler Ásbjörn RE is now steaming to Ísafjördur with around 80 tonnes of fish caught over two days on Westfjords fishing grounds. This is its second half-landing this trip, as last Sunday Ásbjörn was alongside in Ísafjördur with 90 tonnes of fish...

Ingunn AK was alongside at Vopnafjördur yesterday with between 530 and 540 tonnes of mackerel on board. Faxi RE’s mackerel was still being discharged as Ingunn arrived and Lundey NS is at sea on grounds south-east of Iceland...

‘It looks good. We had twelve tonnes of good quality mackerel in our first haul after a two-hour tow. We have been able to maintain full production and if things continue like this then the quota should keep us going until the middle of August,’ said Therney RE’s skipper Kristinn Gestsson when we spoke to him with Therney fishing in the Jökull Deeps...

‘It’s a while since the fishing started to improve and catches have been very good over the last few days. We had been getting around two tonnes per towing hour over the last two or three days before we stopped fishing and started steaming for home. This means that production has been run at virtually full capacity,’ Therney’s skipper Kristinn Gestsson said when we spoke to him as the ship was approaching Reykjavík...

Lundey NS docked in Vopnafjördur late on Wednesday night with a full load of blue whiting. This was the last trip before the Seamen’s Day stopover with the festivities due to be held on Sunday. According to skipper Arnthór Hjörleifsson, the intention is for each of HB Grandi’s pelagic vessels to complete one more trip on blue whiting after Seamen’s Day...

The Icelandic fleet can start its deep sea redfish season on the 10th of May and there were eight trawlers on the Reykjanes Ridge as the season opened. There were another twenty foreign vessels outside the 200-mile limit, most of them from Russia. The season has certainly got off to a slow start and according to Therney RE’s skipper Kristinn Gestsson, catches have been exceptionally poor so far...

‘The fishing has changed over the last three days and it’s a lot slower than it has been. Hopefully it won’t last long and the fishing will pick up again soon,’ said Stefán Geir Jónsson, skipper for this trip on Lundey NS, when we spoke to him yesterday...

Lundey NS docked in its home port of Vopnafjördur this evening after over a 24-hour steam from blue whiting fishing grounds in Faroese waters. According to skipper Arnthór Hjörleifsson, they have around 1600 tonnes on board this trip...