Photo: Norway Sildesalgslag / Frode Fuglseth (2018)

Pelagic Fishing week 27 | Good mackerel fishing in the north and North Sea herring in luck

NORWAY
Monday, July 06, 2020, 16:50 (GMT + 9)

North Sea herring:

The herring fishery this week was about the same as last week’s, with a total of 7.500 MT reported in the catch journal. 4.300 MT was caught in EU waters, 3.100 MT in Norwegian water and about 100 MT in Skagerak.

The fishery in EU waters has mainly taken place east-southeast of Shetland and the catches are mainly caught by trawl. The size from this area ranges between 170-230 gram, a size that is ideal for filet production.

The fishery in Norwegian waters, north of N 60°, has been difficult, the herring is spread out and the weather has been poor. However, at the end of the week multiple catches were caught in the area around Oseberg. The fishermen reported decent “tops”, and it would seem that the full moon had a positive effect on the herring.

The size in Norwegian waters has been similar to the one in EU waters. Due to the consumption plants’ holiday season the catches on Sunday were sold to fish meal and fish oil purposes.

Four vessels sailed out to Skagerak in hope that the herring would gather as a result of the full moon, but the fishery didn’t catch on. Both the weather and herring registrations have been poor.

We’re not expecting too much fishery the coming weeks as the summer holiday has taken Norway. The fleet will most likely set course again late summer/early fall when the herring contains lots of roe.

Mackerel:

This week has been the summer’s best week for mackerel fishery so far, 2.500 MT was registered in the catch journal. 2.250 MT of these were caught in Vestfjorden, in the north, and we need to go back many years to find similar volumes form the North of Norway. The large volumes of mackerel have caused multiple vessels to set course north, and last week we had reports from 38 different vessels.

The mackerel is, as usual, large in size, ranging from 450-520 gram.

The mackerel fishery in the south has been somewhat less this past week and the size of the mackerel varies more. The mackerel around 400 gram seem to be ready to spawn and mackerel as small as 200 gram has been promising.

Norway pout / blue whiting:

A few of the sandeel vessels sat course towards the EU border to fish once the sandeel fishery ended. 13 vessels have reported a total of 3.100 MT of Norway Pout, 900 MT of blue whiting and 220 MT of argentine.

The fishermen report decent fishery and the largest catch have been about 700 MT.

Author: Kenneth Garvik / / Norges Sildesalgslag - Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organization for Pelagic Fish

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