HB Grandi vessel ‘Venus’ has docked in Vopnafjörður, Iceland, with around 750 tonnes of mackerel for production.
Fishing has been very good along the bank off the Reynis Deeps over the last few days reported HB Grandi. According to skipper Kristján Thorvarðarson, the mackerel are a good size with little feed in them and they are keeping away from the herring.
“We were on the fishing grounds on Tuesday evening, and this fish, which is ideal for production at Vopnafjörður, was taken in four hauls," he said, adding that the average weight is 440g.
More pelagic boats
“It looks to us as if the fish is heading eastwards along the bank, and there’s certainly some making its way westwards along the coast as well. We’ve also heard that there’s fishing for mackerel in Greenlandic waters, so we can only be optimistic,” Mr Thorvarðarson stated, commenting that it’s positive that there are more pelagic boats joining in the fishing.
“It makes searching much easier. The Westmann Islands fleet is all on mackerel now and so are the Hornafjörður boats. Vilhelm Thorsteinsson was on the fishing grounds around the same time we were and Hoffell was on the way,” Mr Thorvarðarson said.
Magnús Róbertsson, factory manager at HB Grandi in Vopnafjörður, added the company had recently benefited from a substantial delivery of mackerel and herring, plus a landing of 600t of mackerel as it processed Víkingur’s catch this week.
He commented that HB Grandi’s groundfish production in Vopnafjörður will be suspended for as long as the mackerel and herring seasons last. “Groundfish production has gone very well, but all of the staff have switched over to pelagic production,” Mr Róbertsson said
