HB Grandi: Rough weather and slow fishing

HB Grandi's pelagic vessel Faxi RE docked at Vopnafjordur on Thursday with 280 tonnes of herring on board, caught during the night east of Glettinganes. For this trip, Faxi was towing opposite Ingunn AK and according to Hjalti Einarsson, who was the skipper this trip, weather has been rough these last few days and fishing has been slow, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to HB Grandi's report from 8 October 2010.

‘The herring have been hard to handle in these weather conditions and it hasn't helped that the fish lie close to the bottom while the daylight lasts, but rise and spread out at dusk, so it's not easy to work out where they are.. There isn't a lot to be seen on the instruments, but it's still possible to get a decent haul. These fish were caught over six hours last night when we shot at midnight and hauled early in the morning,' Hjalti Einarsson said, adding that although the conditions haven't been easy, it's a great help that the fishing grounds are only 80 nautical miles from Vopnafjordur.

The herring caught off the east coast over the last few days has been mixed size fish. There has been little mackerel by-catch and no sign of any blue whiting. Much of the Icelandic fleet is fishing in this area, but no Norwegian or Faroese vessels have been seen for a while.
Thursday saw the last of the 950 tonne catch landed by Ingunn go through production, followed by 220 tonnes landed by  Lundey NS before Faxi landed on Thursday. Lundey is now on its way back to fishing grounds to tow a single trawl opposite Ingunn. Ingunn will then steam back to Vopnafjördur once enough has been caught to keep the factory busy.