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DESPITE the furore in Scotland and the rest of Europe, almost the entire Icelandic pelagic fleet is this week busy fishing for mackerel and making little secret of the fact.
Skippers said the quality of the mackerel being caught was excellent, but fishing had been slow. Although the EU has banned mackerel and mackerel products from Iceland and the Faroes, the Icelanders will almost certainly find ready markets in other parts of the world.
One of the main pelagic companies, HB Grandi said there "has been some serious activity" at its processing plant on the Nordurgardur quayside at Reykjavík. Along with redfish and saithe (coley) its factory at Akranes began processing mackerel with a 140-tonne landing of fresh mackerel landed by trawler Ottó N Thorláksson.
According to Bergur Einarsson, the foreman in charge of shore production at the Reykjavík factory, they have been extremely busy recently. Shifts have been running from 6am to 6pm every weekday, with a 6am to midday shift on Saturdays as well. There is currently a workforce of 135 , which includes 80 temporary summer staff, mainly young people who return to schools and colleges after the summer.
Mr Einarsson said: "The youngsters have done really well and are one of the reasons that we have been able to process all of the fish that is landed at the moment. They are great at turning up for extra shifts, and a good few of them turn up early after having cycled to work before six in the morning."
He added that of the record-breaking week’s production, 313 tonnes were redfish and 254 tonnes were saithe.
According to HB Grandi’s Production Manager Torfi Thorsteinsson, the company’s fresher trawlers began fishing on mackerel almost two weeks ago with Ottó N Thorláksson taking its share of the company’s quota. The catches were landed at Akranes to the HB Grandi plant there to process its first tonnes of mackerel, which Torfi Thorsteinsson said went well and promises better.
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