BLUE WHITING FISHERY PICKING UP

Blue Whiting Fishery Picking Up – One of the skippers from Iceland’s HB Grandi’s fleet says there are signs that the Northeast Atlantic blue whiting fishery is picking up.

‘We’re hoping that the fishing gets going properly and there are indications that’s happening. When we started fishing last Tuesday there was little to be had, but now we are getting 300 to 400 tonne hauls. All the same, these are long tows but the catch rate is improving,’ said Venus’s skipper Kristján Thorvarðarson..

Venus is fishing for blue whiting at the southern end of the Faroese EEZ among a large group of others fishing in the same area.

‘There are around 40 pelagic vessels here. There’s a lot of Russian trawlers, 16 or 17 of them, as well as the Faroese and I reckon there are eight or nine Icelandic pelagic vessels in the fishing area. The Norwegian and EU boats are further to the south in this region, and yesterday there were some that had been fishing west of St Kilda, which is west of Scotland,’ he said and added that he feels that the blue whiting are moving rapidly north-westwards.

‘It’s fine fish and the sizes are good, although it’s on the lean side – which is only to be expected at this time of year,’ Kristján Thorvarðarson said.