HERRING SHIFTING DEEPER

‘The trip started slowly and it seems that the herring are moving out of the shallow. As soon as we shifted into deeper water the fishing improved and there was some good fishing last night,’ said Stefán Geir Jónsson, who is skippering Lundey NS for this trip, when he arrived  in Vopnafjördur this morning. He estimated a catch of around 560 tonnes, of which 100 tonnes is mackerel caught the night before last.

He and his crew started in the shallows off the east coast where there has been some fine fishing recently. But there was little to be seen, while there were strong marks from the Seydisfjördur Deeps all the way south to the Reydarfjördur Deeps.

‘We went around fifteen nautical miles past the edge east of Gerpir and there was plenty there last night. The herring going deeper can indicate that they are ready to move on to spawning grounds off the Norwegian coast. But there seems to be plenty of herring deep off the entire north coast. The skipper of one of the Greenlandic pelagic boats, fishing in the Greenlandic EEZ, said that they have been getting herring north of the Hali grounds and all the way east to 14°E. That’s directly north of Langanes. I know that some very big herring were caught by a shrimper at the top of the Skagafjördur Deeps at the end of the summer, and it looks like the herring’s distribution is wider than anyone had expected it to be,’ Stefán Geir Jónsson said.

Ingunn AK is currently discharging at Vopnafjördur and should be finished this evening. Lundey is next in the landing queue and should be back at sea late tomorrow night. Faxi RE is at sea off the east coast.