The course of Fisheries as per week 53/2015

Atlanto Scandic herring
Week no. 53 is both the last week of 2015 and the first week of 2016 in combination. Thus the activity has partly been carried out this year and partly last year! It is however the catching after 1^st January which is normally being the more important. As a grand total 2.440 MT have been registered of which 300 MT was before the turn of the year.
Since the turn of the year both vessels penning-in and vessels netting, have been in operation in the fjords off Trømsø and off Senja island. The size of the herring was 353 g as an average, though a couple of vessels operating in the Kaldfjord got herring by size 280-290 g. Along the coast of Trøndelag county, the size was 180 g as an average.
Most buyers are again active as from Monday this week, and some of them have already got their first portion of raw material to start production. In the forthcoming week higher activity is expected from coastal vessels. Most likely also purse seiners will join.

Mackerel
By Christmas time one vessel still had some mackerel quota left. This volume was taken during the days between Christmas and New year. On the very last day of 2015, 185 MT of mackerel were registered. The average size of the mackerel was 339 g and was taken southwest of Shetland, grid 4250.

Ocean sprat
The new year opened a new season for ocean sprat, and 36 vessels were chosen to take part as from 1^st January. By midnight on Sunday, 14 vessels had set sail to be among the first to participate. The last day for joining these operations, is on 11^th this month by midnight.
From the vessels already being at the field, there is no sprat yet reported.