NORWEGIAN SEASONAL SANDEEL FISHERY NEARS END

Norwegian seasonal sandeel fishery nears end. The Norwegian sandeel fishery is coming to an end and we ended the week with 14.900 MT registered catches, reports reports Norges Sildesalgslag (a Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organisation for Pelagic Fish).
The organisation says:
“We need to go back to the beginning of the fishery on April 15th to find a lower weekly volume (6.900 MT).
“This week’s volume is divided between 23 catches, with 60 MT as the smallest and 1.800 MT as the largest catch. The fishery has taken place on different grounds and it has been varying.
“As usual, at the end of June, fish larvae become more visible in the catches on some grounds. And due to a larger mix of smaller sandeel in the catches the Coast Guard established a carefulness area on the Outer Shoal on Wednesday.
“On the same day the Director of Fisheries increased the quota for fully structured vessels.
“As per today there’s been caught a total of 234.373 MT of sandeel and 15.626 MT remains.”
“For North Sea herring “only” 9.800 MT was registered in the journal this week it can hardly match last week’s 28.800 MT. However, while most of the catches last week were sold for fish meal and fish oil purposes, most of the fish this week went to consumption, 6.800 MT and 3000 MT for fish meal and oil.
“All the catches for meal and oil were caught in Norwegian waters around the Koralbanken. There’s been registered a lot of herring in this area, but it is relatively small in size.
“Most of the catches for consumption were caught in EU waters and 5.000 MT were caught in the area east of “Bressayhola”.
“The Directory of fisheries cancelled the quota limitations for the coastal fleet in EU waters this week and increased purse seiners’ share from 1,15 to 1,68.
“Regarding the size of the herring for consumption, it lays around 190-205 gram in the northern parts of Norwegian waters and 150 – 200 gram in EU waters. The herring from Norwegian waters is ideal for single filet production. The herring from EU waters has mostly been sold at the matjes auction.
“The market needs larger herring, so we hope that the new moon this weekend works in the fishery’s favour.
“We had the season’s best week on the mackerel fishery this week, with a total of 1000 MT in the journal. 800 MT of this was caught in the North while the remaining 200 MT was caught on the West- Coast of Norway.
“Based on the positive mackerel observations more vessels have set course North and this week there’s 21 vessels in the area.
“The fishery has taken place in the outer parts of the Vestfjord and after a slow start and northern winds the fishery picked up on Saturday and the fishermen caught 530 MT at the end of the week.
“The size is about 450-500 gram. The fishery in the south has been more varying with varying sizes on the mackerel. The fish in this area is mostly sold for the fresh market.”