Akurey, one of three new trawlers built in Turkey for Icelandic seafood company HB Grandi, has already caught 4,500 metric tons (MT) of whitefish since it started fishing in January, and has the potential to catch an additional 2,500 MT before the season finishes.
“This is a fantastically efficient ship, and given the catch rate and the available quotas, it shouldn’t be a problem to manage 7,000 MT in a year,” said Eiríkur Jónsson, skipper of Akurey.
Jónsson said that he is satisfied with the new vessel and the fishing this summer. He added that at this time of year, there were long steaming times to be able to catch cod.
“Such as this last trip. We steamed for 30 hours to find cod. The trawl was shot away north of Kolbeinsey. We were there for 30 hours for 90 MT of large, top-quality cod. From there, we steamed another 30 hours south to the mountains and have been there in some really good fishing for golden redfish and saithe,” Jónsson said.
HB Grandi said that it seems the Westfjords’ peak redfish season is coming to an end, and that there is a strong probability that its fresh fish trawlers will be busy on their home grounds off the southwest of Iceland in the near future.
