Icelandic fresher doing well on saithe

Fresher trawler Helga Maria was due to dock in Reykjavík at midday yesterday. According to skipper Friðleifur Einarsson, they have been fishing mainly south of the Reykjanes peninsula this trip, which turned out to be all about steering clear of the species they aren’t supposed to be catching, reports Brim.
‘Saithe is the species that we can catch more or less at will, and over the last couple of weeks we have done fairly well at finding and catching saithe. The other species are the problem and we’re strictly rationed,’ he said, adding that a shortage of fish isn’t the problem – quite the opposite. If anything, there is too much fish for their limited quotas.

‘For example, there has been some very good fishing for cod in the Jökull Deeps recently and we’re more aware than before that cod are spilling over into the ‘season’ fishing grounds south of Reykjanes. There’s golden redfish literally everywhere and the problem is principally not to catch too much of it. Overall, we have 150 tons of fish for this trip and that’s pretty respectable, considering the circumstances,’ Friðleifur Einarsson said.