The course of Norwegian fisheries as per Week 35, 2010

The mackerel fishery is going very well , some Norwegian Spring Herring caught in Lofoten, quiet for the industrial trawling fleet and about 400 tonnes of sprat put in holding pens, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Norges Sildesalgslag.

This past week was  a very busy one for the purse seiners and bigger coastal vessels with catches totaling over 53 000 tonnes. The size of the mackerel has been small, between 350 and 400 grams on the average, but towards the end of the week there were bigger fish in caught, between 400 and 450 grams. The week ended up on a high note Saturday with over 11 300 tonnes reported caught.

All this fish caused the receiving stations to have some difficulties receiving ans producing the huge quantity and Norges Sildesalgslag requested the fleet to hold back catching more until the factories were able to handle more. The fishery now takes place nord of 62 latitude, about 100 nautical miles west of Stadt.

The smaller fishery of mackerel for pen-holding  netted about 165 tonnes last week. The fish has been small in size and has been a little harder to sell. There is now over 500 tonnes of mackerel in holding pens.

  Around Lofoten some smaller coastal vessels have been catching Norwegian Spring Herring, about 1 000 tonnes in total. The is relatively big fish, ranging from 300 to 370 grams on the average.