Örfirisey RE-4. Image: FiskerForum

Short trip on silver smelt

‘This was a very short trip for us. We’re supposed to be alongside in Reykjavík next Monday, and we sailed on 5th May. Now we’ve been at sea for thirteen days and the catch is around 400 tonnes. This is some very mixed fish,’ said Arnar Haukur Ævarsson, skipper of Brim’s freezer trawler Örfirisey.

Örfirisey started its trip on grounds off the south coast.

F/V Örfirisey

'We were mainly looking for silver smelt. We found them in the Skerja Deeps and did well fishing there. As well as the silver smelt, there was some deep redfish with it,’ he said, adding that from there the decision was taken to set course for the Westfjords.

‘The next step was to start looking for Greenland halibut. We made for the Hampiðjan Square and the area outside it. There wasn’t much Greenland halibut to be found, and there were no deep redfish to be seen in the area. It didn’t help that it was blowing hard most of the time were were on those grounds.’

He commented that it was tempting to fish in the Víkuráll Gully, but ‘there’s so much cod in the Gully and the Night Kiosk that with the best will in the world we wouldn’t be able to search for saithe. There’s cod getting in our way everywhere over a wide area, but we have to grin and bear it that we have an amount allocated for each trip. So cod isn’t high on the agenda,’ he said, adding that the upshot was that Örfirisey headed back to south-western grounds.

‘We had another shot at silver smelt and then deep redfish in the Skerja deeps. There are very few trawlers fishing for silver smelt. Fishing was still good when we finished, and we’re hoping it still will be when we’re back in that area.’

According to skipper Arnar Haukur Ævarsson, Örfirisey had spent its previous trip fishing in the Barents Sea, finishing the trip on home grounds.

‘Ævar did a fine trip, and that quota has been used up now. I don’t know if there are plans to fish in the Russian zone, but considering the situation, it doesn’t look likely,’ he said.

Author: Quentin Bates / FiskerForum

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