Four HB Grandi trawlers on redfish

Four of HB Grandi's freezer trawlers are now fishing redfish on the Reykjanes Ridge just outside the Icelandic 200-mile limit. Fishing was permitted from 10th May, but the HB Grandi vessels started  day later, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to HB Grandi.

According to fleet manager Runar Thor Stefansson, Venus HF, Therney RE, Helga Maria AK and Orfirisey RE have started on redfish and are currently 10 to 20 miles outside the line.

Under the terms of an agreement reached last year between those nations with fishing rights in the area, with the exception of Russia, the TAC for the year is set at 38,000 tonnes from the so-called lower stock.

Runar Thor Stefansson said that this agreement gives HB Grandi a 3591 tonne quota for the year, which is 20% lower than last year's 4496 tonne allocation. There have been some significant reductions in the redfish quota over the past few years, and by comparison, HB Grandi's quota for this year is now roughly a fifth of the 16.748 tonne quota its fleet had in 2004.