Course of the Norwegian fisheries as per January 25th
A good week for the Atlanto-Scandig herring fisheries even with some bad weather. Capelin in Iclandic waters has started and both the North Sea herring and mackerel fisheries have been good, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Norges Sildesalgslag.
Atlanto-Scandic herring
This week saw total catches of 46 700 tonnes of fish.
Bad weather hampered the activity from Thursday to Saturday but then the activity picked up both outside Træna and in the northern area outside Lofoten and Vesterålen.
The average size of the herring is a little bigger in the north, around 300 grams, and then 20-30 grams below that per fish in the Træna area. There is also a significantly lower part of Group1 herring in the catches further south.
The weeks average price ranges from NOK 4,37 to NOK 4,87 per kilo.
The coastal fleet is still catching the lion's share of the total, with 26 000 tonnes.
Purse seiners had 12 500 tonnes and the trawlers just over 8 000 tonnes. This week we also got the official quotas and quota factors for the coastal fleet and the trawlers .
Mackerel
12 000 tonnes of mackerel were reported caught. Of that nearly 1 100 tonnes were from Norwegian trawlers, the rest from foreign vessels delivering on contract with Norwegian buyers.
The fishery takes place on the fishing grounds near St. Kilda.
North Sea Herring
This week also saw catches of North Sea herring, nearly 4 700 tonnes total.
All of it, except 20 tonnes caught and penned in Rogaland, was caught west of the Frigg area. Sizes are varying from 150 grams to 215 grams on the average and the price has been NOK 4,04 per kilo.
The small quantity of penned fish were bigger in size, averaging 320 grams. Both Norwegian and Danish buyers were in the marked for the fish.
Jan Mayen - Iceland capelin
This years capelin fishery near Iceland started this week. The total quota so far is 27 000 tonnes and 30 norwegian vessels have been cleared to participate.
So far 19 000 tonnes are caught and 19 vessels are finished with their quotas. Bad weather has also been affecting this area, but most of the vessels have managed to put their nets out.
The average price has been NOK 2,40. The big question is now if there will be an expanded quota. This might be resolved later this week.
Capelin in the Barents Sea
Norges Sildesalgslag has had no indications that any vessels have been looking for capelin in the Barents Sea.
No organized trips to look for catchable quantities have been scheduled this year so individual vessels must go at it.
The quota factors this year is 4,73 for purse seiners , 3,38 for trawlers and the maximum quota for a coastal vessel is 370 tonnes.