Brim’s pelagic vessels have both docked in Vopnafjörður, bringing around 5000 tonnes of blue whiting between them.
The Víkingur’s catch was 2550 tonnes and Venus landed around 2600 tonnes. Whilst on the second tow of the current trip in the southern part of the Faroese EEZ, Vikingur skipper Hjalti Einarsson said that the long tows of around 20 hours had brought a first haul of 330 tonnes.
“The blue whiting seem to be migrating slowly northwards and catches can be very variable,” he said. “Albert Sveinsson was skipper in the last trip, and he said they had been getting from 200 tonnes up to 580 tonnes per tow. There was a long wait for the blue whiting to appear in the Faroese zone, and Brim’s two pelagic vessels waited a whole week at sea before they were aware of blue whiting in large enough volumes to catch,” he added.
There is now a substantial fleet on the blue whiting grounds in Faroese waters. As well as the Icelandic vessels, there are also Faroese and Russians, as well as one Greenlandic vessel fishing there.
