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Commercial Fishing

ICELANDIC VESSELS LAND DECENT CATCHES OF BLUE WHITING

ICELANDIC VESSELS LAND DECENT CATCHES

Icelandic vessels land decent catches of blue whiting. Icelandic pelagic vessel Venus was alongside in Vopnafjörður last week with 2500 tonnes of blue whiting on board, with sister ship Víkingur arrived slightly later. Catches were taken at the southern tip of the Faroese EEZ, from where it is a 32 to 33- hour steam to Vopnafjörður.

“We haven’t done badly,” said Venus’s skipper Theódór Thórðarson.

‘The blue whiting are migrating southwards and we’ve been fishing in what’s known as the grey zone. There’s been a big change in how much blue whiting is on the move, and most of the pelagic vessels have been getting around 300 tonnes for a 15 to 20-hour tow. Fishing is best at night, with not much to be seen during the day.’

He said that there had been good weather during this trip, but during the previous trip there had been one spell of stormy weather. Now a storm is forecast for Sunday, but with reasonably good weather expected during next week.

“We should manage one short trip before Christmas and we’re sailing tonight as soon as we have finished discharging. So that should give us four days on the grounds, but we’ll have to wait and see how the fishing turns out,” Theódór Thórðarson said.

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