HB Grandi: good quality mackerel, but slow fishing

Most of the Icelandic fleet is now fishing for mackerel of southern Iceland and fishing has been steady. Fishing has been slow today, according to Gudlaugur Jónsson, skipper of Ingunn AK, but he was hoping to see the fishing improve with rising temperatures, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to HB Grandi.

‘We mostly fishing off  the Myrar and Öræfa Banks, and we are now about 35 miles off Ingólfshöfdi. We got here yesterday after landing 350 tonnes of mackerel at Vopnafjördur on Monday, all of which was caught in a single day. Here we are fishing practically clean mackerel, but there has been more of a mix for those who have been fishing deeper,' Gudlaugur Jónsson said, commenting that the sea temperature is still very low, although it has been increasing gradually.

‘It's still winter north-east of Iceland, and there probably won't be much mackerel or herring to be found there until the sea temperature rises. Lundey NS had a try up there recently but came away with nothing. The mackerel seem to be keeping to the southern side of Iceland where the water is warmer and I don't expect there will be any mackerel to be seen off the west until it's warmer there. The mackerel we have been fishing so far is good quality, big fish, but there could be more of it,' Gudlaugur Jónsson said, when he already had 130 tonnes in Ingunn's tanks.

HB Grandi's other pelagic vessels have also been busy. Lundey landed at Vopnafjördur yesterday morning with 320 tonnes of mostly mackerel, mixed with an estimated 40 tonnes of herring. Faxi RE has been in Reykjavík where a new RSW system is being installed on board.