First full load of capelin for Akranes for three years

‘I felt that this deserved a celebration, so we splashed out on cream cakes for the crew, and they were richly deserves,' said factory manager Gudmundur Hannesson at HB Grandi's Akranes plant, as Ingunn AK arrived with full tanks of capelin in its home port. This was the first full landing of capelin to the Akranes fishmeal factory for almost three years, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to HB Grandi.

Gudmundur Hannesson said that Ingunn's arrival had been anticipated eagerly, as for the last two seasons, the factory has only worked with offcuts of capelin during the roe season. He said that everything had been prepared carefully at the factory, which has been running on limited volumes of pearlside until now.

‘Bjarni Olafsson AK and Ingunn were here last week with a total of 1100 tonnes of pearlside. Hoffell SU brought 370 tonnes on Wednesday, followed by Faxi RE with 160 tonnes, all of which had been processed on Friday.'

Gudmundur Hannesson said that the pearlside that has been landed at Akranes has been of variable quality. The catch needs to be chilled effectively and some trips had been too long for the fish to still be in top condition by the time it was discharged. If this is not kept in mind, then the catch can degrade badly, to the extent that landing parties have been forced to work with oxygen masks.

‘But we can produce top-class fishmeal from pearlside as long as the raw material is fresh, good quality fish. I understand that pearlside fishmeal has been gone down well with customers and they have been especially pleased with the fish oil that has come from pearlside.'