The mackerel season in Iceland has opened well this year, with fishing starting south of the Westman Islands before extending to other areas.
“The season has got off to a better start than it did last year,” said Hjalti Einarsson, skipper of HB Grandi’s pelagic vessel Víkingur, adding that the opening of the season presents its own problems.
“The temperature gradients are some way further west than they were last year and we have mainly been fishing south of the Westman Islands. The sea temperature is 11 to 12°C and catches have been very variable. There are good hauls, next to nothing in between. We would have preferred to have found mackerel in catchable amounts further east, but there hasn’t been the time to search properly. It could be that what makes the difference is that this summer is much brighter and warmer than last year,” he said.
As in previous years, mackerel migrate along the western and eastern coasts. There has been hardly any mackerel seen in the south-western harbours and no reports of pelagic vessels catching mackerel off the west. As usual, the mackerel find their way onto herring grounds, but Hjalti Einarsson said that they have fortunately been able to avoid getting herring as a by-catch with the mackerel.
Production at HB Grandi’s pelagic processing plant in Vopnafjörður has been steady since Venus landed the first trip of the season on 12th July.
“This good mackerel fishing is very welcome and there has been a lot of activity here since Venus arrived with the first mackerel catch for production. It’s a boost for a community like this one, not least as the capelin season failed completely,” said Magnús Róbertsson, production manager at HB Grandi’s Vopnafjörður factory.
“Production has been been largely continuous. We started gradually and have used the down time when there’s no raw material to clean the equipment. Apart from that we’re working shifts around the clock and an ideal landing for us is when the pelagic vessels bring 600 to 700 tonnes,” he said, commenting that the mackerel are larger and better than they were last year.
Fishing for mackerel has been steady recently, with the fleet working further east than they were to begin with, shortening the steaming to to land in Vopnafjörður.
The prospect is that the mackerel should keep production active to late September or into October, when herring production takes over.
