TRIP STARTS WELL ON COD

Therney RE is now fishing in Russian waters in the Barents Sea and according to this trip’s skipper, Ægir Franzsson, catches were excellent to start with before the fishing dropped away. The last few days have been a search for good cod marks over a very large area. There are three Russian and one Faroese trawler also searching alongside Therney.

‘We reached the Russian zone on the 18th of August and started fishing the next day. We were east of Novaya Zemlya and the fishing was very good there, with two or more tonnes of good-quality cod per towing hour, which is just what the factory deck needs. There were ten days of good fishing, but then something changed and we dropped down to half a tonne per towing hour in the last few hauls. There was capelin about while the fishing was good, but as soon as that disappeared, the cod went with it,’ Ægir Franzsson said, when Therney was on the Goose Bank approximately 40 nautical miles west of Novaya Zemlya and 340 nautical miles north-west of Murmansk.

To give an idea of Therney’s travels in this trip, he said that they had gone as far north as 73°50’N east as far as  51°40’E, further east than the Persian Gulf.

He said that the most difficult time for fishing in Russian waters is approaching. Catches have been excellent all summer and Kleifaberg ÓF was leaving after a fine trip just as Therney arrived there. Snæfell EA is on its way to the Russian zone, so there will be at least two Icelandic trawlers fishing there in the coming weeks.

‘And the weather isn’t hurting us. There has been a flat calm every day since we got here, apart from one day there was a cold breeze from the north,’ Ægir Franzsson said, and commented that they expect to steam to Kirkenes in northern Norway around the middle of the month for a crew change when Kristin Gestsson and his crew will take over for the rest of the trip.