GOOD START TO YEAR FOR NORWEGIAN PELAGIC FLEET

Good start to year for Norwegian pelagic fleet. Both smaller and larger Norwegian boats were active on Atlanto-Scandian herring in the north in the first week of the year.

Total quantity for the week was 7,664 tonnes. The daily quantities rose throughout the week after several larger vessela joined the fishery. Fishing has taken place on Øksfjorden, on Altafjorden and now on Kvænangen at the end of the week.

In addition, a smaller catch of herring has been taken at Glomfjord in Nordland and a smaller one in Storfjorden.

This year’s quota for Atlanto-Scandian herring is 255,800 tonnes, down from 388,490 tonnes last year. In 2023, over 100,000 tonnes had been taken in the first four weeks of the year, but then many larger boats were fishing for herring early in the year when the quota was larger.

The first mackerel catches of the year from the foreign fleet arrived this week. Two vessels delivered 2,350 tonnes and 520 tonnes respectively to Global Florø and Vikomar. The British fleet is now fishing for mackerel around 50 nm north-west of the Orkney Islands and it is expected there will b a number of landings in Norway from that fleet. There were also two smaller catches of mackerel on the Norwegian coast, in Sogn and inside Storfjorden. 115 tonnes of horse mackerel were caught during the week. The catches were taken from Fosnavåg and as far south as Boknafjordenl

Three Norwegian vessels have also made the trip to the Faroe Islands zone in search of blue whiting and there are vessels out there looking for North Sea herring. A vessel has also set sail for sea sprat, but no catches have been reported yet.

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