REDFISH PROVE ELUSIVE FOR ICELANDIC TRAWLER

Redfish prove elusive for Icelandic trawler. The skipper of the HB Grandi operated trawler, Akurey, says redfish proved elusive on his most recent trip, although the vessel achieved good catches of cod and haddock.

Skipper Eiríkur Jónsson said: ‘It has been a fine trip, except that deep redfish seem to be scarce. We’re in the Skerja Deeps and there’s no deep redfish to be found. I’m not sure what the next step is going to be, but we’ll be here until tonight and we’ll see what tomorrow brings,’

Even though the deep redfish proved to be elusive, it has turned out to be a good trip and Akurey had 120 tonnes on board when Eiríkur Jónsson reported in.

‘We started the trip on the Mountains and did well right away on golden redfish and saithe. From there we shifted over to the Selvogur Bank for some good fishing on haddock during the day and cod at night. This was all good-quality, large fish, and you can see why trawlers had come from far and wide to fish there,’ he said, adding that the Selvogur Bank fishery is gradually dropping away.

‘There has been very good fishing there for haddock, and also cod, but now the fish seem to be increasingly moving out of the shallows. This means that catch rate are lower and we have to search out fish elsewhere,’ Eiríkur Jónsson said