BRIM reports good trip for Helga María

‘Most of this trip we were on the area known as the landing strip, or the Dritvík Shallows, and we allowed ourselves some time to go south to the Skerja Deeps and the Mountains. We did well for cod on the Landing strip, and also had some redfish and saithe,’ said skipper Friðleifur Einarsson when Helga María docked at the beginning of the week with 150 tonnes on board.

This will be Helga María’s last trip on home grounds for a while, after being leased to Greenland for marine research duties. This is the second year that Helga María will spend in Greenland as part of research into the distribution of stocks, and last year the trawler spend three months taking part in research into shrimp distribution off west Greenland.

When we spoke to Friðleifur Einarsson, the crew were preparing for the assignment in Greenland, including taking fishing gear ashore. The intention is to sail on 29th May and to return on 3rd August.

Heimir Guðbjörnsson will sail as skipper for the first month of the research assignment, after which Friðleifur will take over. Heimir is already familiar with this work, having been skipper for most of last year’s research trip.

‘It will be 67 days this time. We start with 26 days of shrimp stock research off western Greenland. The we have two weeks of shrimp stock research down south around Cape Farewell, and then the last two weeks or so are for researching the distribution of redfish and cod off east Greenland,’ Heimir Guðbjörnsson said.