2000 TONNES OF MACKEREL FOR ÖRFIRISEY RE THIS SUMMER

‘We’re not complaining about the catch rates and we’re fishing to maintain our 52 to 53 tonne daily production capacity on board. The mackerel are fine fish, clearly well fed and the fat content is high according to the newest samples,’ said Örfirisey’s skipper Trausti Egilsson when we spoke to him with Örfirisey located in the Kolluáll gully west of Snæfellsnes.

Örfirisey started fishing at the beginning of this month and when we spoke to Trausti Egilsson, he said that they have landed twice so far, a total of 700 tonnes, and while on mackerel they try to discharge around once a week. The trip’s length remains unchanged in spite of these half-landings and the trip is expected to finish at the end of the month.

He said that Örfirisey’s catch so far is approximately 2000 tonnes this summer. They are using a 1260 Gloria pelagic trawl from Hampidjan and the catch is wholefrozen on board.

‘What we are seeing is that the mackerel are in good condition and are clearly feeding well. We grade the catch by size and we have seen that recently there has been an increase in the 400 to 600 gramme grade. It seems that bulk of the mackerel’s feed is small crustaceans (Euphausiacea) and we haven’t been aware of a great deal of juveniles from other fish species in the feed,’ Trausti Egilsson said.