HB Grandi: 98.50% of capelin quota caught

HB Grandi's pelagic vessels finished their capelin season at the end of last week with 1583 tonnes of the quota left uncaught, or less than 1.50% of their allocated 110,000 tonne quota. Production came to an end at Vopnafjördur last week while at Akranes the last landings of capelin were enough to keep production going into the middle of this week, reports www.megafishnet.com.

Production of frozen capelin and capelin roes has gone extremely well during the season with around 10,000 tonnes of whole capelin frozen and approximately 4000 tonnes of capelin roe.

According to Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, head of department at HB Grandi's pelagic division, this has been the best capelin season for many years as the excellent state of the capelin stock was enough to make a significant increase in capelin quota available compared to the previous year. After New Year, 57,000 tonnes of capelin were landed at Vopnafjördur, setting a record as the best year since capelin production began there. 43,000 tonnes were landed at Akranes after New Year, the best result since the 2004 season.