5000 tonnes of blue whiting landed last week

Brim’s pelagic vessels have both docked in Vopnafjörður, bringing around 5000 tonnes of blue whiting between them. Víkingur’s catch was 2550 tonnes and Venus landed roughly 2600 tonnes.

We caught up with Víkingur’s skipper Hjalti Einarsson during the second tow of the current trip in the southern part of the Faroese EEZ. He said that they arrived on fishing grounds yesterday morning after steaming from Vopnafjörður.

‘Tows are long, around 20 hours and our first haul was 330 tonnes. The blue whiting seem to be migrating slowly northwards and catches can be very variable. Albert Sveinsson was skipper in the last trip, and he said they had been getting from 200 tonnes up to 580 tonnes per tow. There was a long wait for the blue whiting to appear in the Faroese zone, and Brim’s two pelagic vessels waited a whole week at sea before they were aware of blue whiting in large enough volumes to catch,’ he said.

There is now a substantial fleet on the blue whiting grounds in Faroese waters. As well as the Icelandic vessels, there are also Faroese and Russians, as well as one Greenlandic vessel fishing there.