HB Grandi´s factory at Akranes ready for capelin

Ingunn AK is now steaming to Akranes with a full load of around 2000 tonnes of capelin on board, and is expected to dock tonight, after which fishmeal production can start. This is the first landing of capelin to Akranes this season, with the last landings at the end of last year's season in March, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to HB Grandi.

According to Gudmundur Hannesson, HB Grandi's factory manager at Akranes, everything is ready for the season to get underway with the factory set to work around the clock in 12-hour shifts while the season lasts. The steaming time to Akranes from fishing grounds north-east of Langanes is around 34-35 hours, and Ingunn started steaming yesterday morning.

‘Last year we had our first capelin landing on the 25th of January, so this year we are starting a week earlier,' Gudmundur Hannesson said, commenting that during 2011, 30,000 tonnes of pelagic fish were delivered to the factory for fishmeal production.

‘We had two good hits of pearlside in mid-January last year and after that we started by taking 7000 tonnes of capelin before the roe season began. From that point, we were only producing meal from fish that wasn't suitable for roe production, plus the reside from the roe production itself. That came to a total of around 20,000 tonnes,' he said.

Yesterday the pelagic vessels fishing on capelin were trawling 90 nautical miles north-east of Langanes, where there has been excellent fishing since the capelin began to show up last week. Now there are reports that capelin are being taken in purse seines as well, and both Norwegian and Greenlandic vessels have been pursing for capelin the night before last about 15 nautical miles south of where the trawlers are working.