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FIRST CARGO OF HERRING OF THE SEASON FOR VSV
First cargo of herring of the season for VSV. A good start and good quality on the first Icelandic herring landed by Gullberg VE at Vinnslustöðin.
Gullberg docked on Monday with the first cargo of herring of the season, a total of 860 tonnes. According to Gullberg’s skipper Jón Atli Gunnarsson, the start has been good and fishing is good for the time of year.
The herring are migrating
“We had about eight hundred and sixty tonnes in three hauls,” Jón Atli said. “It’s kind of traditional seasonal herring.”
He said that the herring have been migrating quite inland compared to previous years.
“We were there in an area that people call a traditional trail, and it’s been a bit special now. There seems to be quite a lot of herring as we are approaching the 12-mile mark. We’re not trawling inwards, but we’ll just have to see in the next few days how it develops — whether the herring are going to stay in there or move further out.’
When asked when he expects to go back, Jón Atli says that it depends on how the catch goes.
“We will start landing immediately, but it is being flapped (filleted), so it will take some time. It could be Wednesday night or even Thursday before we go back.”
Jón Atli says that the start is promising and that the crew is optimistic about the future.
“It’s just a good start. We’re now keeping an eye on how the herring behaves over the next few weeks — whether we regularly find them in these traditional grounds. If so, then it will be a good season.”
Good quality
According to VSV’s production manager Benóný Þórisson, the herring that arrived with Gullberg has been very good, both in size and quality.
“This is 290-300 gramme herring and very good quality,” he said. ‘You can think it’s even better now than often before in this Icelandic herring. This bodes well for the future.”
He said that most of the herring goes into filleted production and that the process is going very well.
“Almost everything goes into filleted production. When we fillet herring like this, the offcuts go into a 50/50 melting, so it goes through the processing very well,” he explains.
According to Benóný, the processing is proceeding quickly. “We are working on this in one to two days, so it will be processed quickly,” he says.
Benóný adds that the spirit in the production is good and the employees are happy that the season has begun. “There’s always a certain excitement and atmosphere when the first herring arrives. This is a good start and we look forward to the future.”
Below you can see a video of Gullberg’s arrival in the Westman Islands yesterday, as well as the crew of Huginn VE getting the ship ready for herring fishing.
Image credit: VSV
