The course of the Fisheries as per week 36/2014

Mackerel
The main season for mackerel is well under way for both small and larger vessels. The grand total of last week: 16.000 MT.
Following the agreement on new prices from Tuesday last week, both purse seiners and trolling vessels headed for open sea. By the end of the week also vessels larger than 13 meters joined. The vessels trolling have mainly been operating off the coast of Møre and further south to an area near Fedje islands and Øygarden.  The mackerel is found in tight shoals near the coast. During the weekend some vessels found the mackerel 20 n.m. west of Bulandet when "normally" trolling.
The larger vessels started their catching further from the shore just south of the borderline to the "Loop Sea". Later the fleet moved into the "Loop Sea" and on Saturday close to 8.000 MT were registered from this area - some 250 n.m northwest of Stadt. In this somewhat unusual area the fleet observed a lot of mackerel and several good hauls were made. On Sunday, however, the vessels still being in the area did not observe any mackerel at all. The same day other vessels hit the mackerel 30-40 n.m off Hustadvika and more vessels were now joining.
The size of the fish is fairly small; 330-385 g with an average at 361 g. The size is mostly even with just very few G6 mixed in and some fish below 250 g. The prices are from NOK 5,38 to 6,66 at the best. The average price was just below NOK 6,- .The trollers got prices very close to the minimum price.  Compared to last year's start of season, the prices then were close to NOK 3,- higher.
In the forthcoming week there is still expected high activity, and if the weather is good, there might be a good yield during the week. Hopefully also better sized mackerel will appear being more attractive to the buyers.

North Sea herring
From the North Sea 8.000 MT of herring were reported last week.  Foreign vessels' share was 6.400 MT. One vessel alone got 2.000 MT sold for reduction purposes. The  Nw vessels were operating east of Peterhead while the foreign vessels were operating in the waters close to the Orkney Islands. The size of the herring is good; 210-255 g. As previously reported, the prices are low at a level near the minimum price of NOK 3,-
Landings are still expected during the days to come.

Blue whiting/ Norway pout
From the Egersund Bank in the south via the Reef to the eastern part of the Patch Bank, 1.100 MT of blue whiting were caught. From the edge the search for Norway pout resulted in close to 400 MT.
Prices; from NOK 1,60 - 1,72.

Ocean sprat
Following Danish reports telling of good catching, 8 trawlers set sails for the ocean sprat last week. Close to 800 MT were reported from 3 vessels. These catches have been taken in the southern part of the North Sea some 90 n.m. west of Esbjerg. The catches were sold for reduction purposes at approx. NOK 2,-

Coastal sprat
This fishing was open as from 1^st of September in Rogaland, Hardanger and Sogn.
Just two catches are reported from the Sogne Fjord amounting to 27 MT. It is reported fairly promising observations in Hardanger, - but - the size is too small.