ON THE STARTING BLOCKS IN THE FAROES

Ten Icelandic pelagic boats are currently tied up in the Faroes, five in Tórshavn and another five at Tvøroyri, where their crews are waiting for the blue whiting to migrate out of EU waters and into the Faroese EEZ. Two Icelandic vessels were searching in Faroese waters and in the gray zone to the south, and they caught some blue whiting in the middle of the week.

‘We had the first haul inside the Faroese zone last Sunday and there was nothing to be had. Then we steamed across the area along with the rest of the Icelanders and nobody saw any blue whiting marks that indicated enough to make fishing worthwhile when the fuel costs are taken into account. So the decision was made to tie up in the Faroes and wait for the blue whiting to migrate northwards,’ said Faxi RE’s skipper Albert Sveinsson when we spoke to him in Tvøroyri.

‘Last year we had our first haul in Faroese waters on the 6th of April, so it seems the blue whiting are late this year.’

He said that there had been some very good fishing on blue whiting in EU waters west of the British Isles as the bulk of the blue whiting pass through that area. Several Russian vessels are still fishing in international waters further west, but he said it’s doubtful that they are fishing much.

‘I don’t expect we’ll be waiting long and we have to be ready when the blue whiting start to move northwards,’ Albert Sveinsson said.