Norway Week 45 spring-spawning herring landings fall to 19,609 tonnes, down 44.6% week-on-week, with 36,530 tonnes of annual quota remaining

Norway's Week 45 (week of the November 11 publication) pelagic fishery landing data is out: registered landings of spring-spawning herring (NVG herring) fell to 19,609 tonnes, down 44.6% from 35,391 tonnes the previous week. Data provided by the Norwegian Herring Sales Organization (Norges Sildesalgslag) shows that severe weather and quota uptake were the two main reasons for the marked slowdown in fishing this week.

Since before the weekend, northern Norway has been continuously hit by strong winds; at the same time, a considerable number of vessels have exhausted their individual quotas, and the pelagic fleet's operations have therefore slowed noticeably. Although fishing activity continued throughout the week, landings were most concentrated on Tuesday and Saturday, at 5,295 tonnes and 4,254 tonnes respectively, while Monday was the quietest with only 680 tonnes.

This week's operations were mainly concentrated in Altafjorden, with both purse seiners and coastal fleets taking catches. The weighted average size of the catch was 262 grams, and all raw material went to direct consumption. In terms of landings by individual vessel, the Havsnurp and the M. Ytterstad tied for first place with 1,480 tonnes each, followed by the Smaragd with 1,200 tonnes and the Harvest with 1,100 tonnes.

Norway's annual spring-spawning herring quota now has 36,530 tonnes remaining. Starting this week, the smaller-length fleet will begin using the method of pumping fish directly from the purse seine to transport vessels; this arrangement allows smaller vessels to participate in the fishery, while larger vessels are responsible for loading the fish aboard and transporting them to coastal receiving processing plants.

In other species, declared landings of Atlantic mackerel this week were 3,273 tonnes, below the previous week's 4,836 tonnes. Monday concentrated most of the activity, at 1,780 tonnes, then gradually declined toward the weekend. The main catches came from the UK economic zone, with foreign-flagged vessels such as the Altaire, Artemis and Sunbeam accounting for the largest share, among which the Altaire had the largest single landing at 760 tonnes. The Norwegian coastal fleet contributed about 200 tonnes, mainly caught in Øygarden and waters to the south, with a weighted average size of 225 grams per fish.

Declared landings of North Sea herring this week were 303 tonnes, spread across only 3 catch notifications. The largest single lot came from the Straumbas, at 150 tonnes. Fish sizes ranged from 132 grams to 160 grams, with operations conducted simultaneously in Norwegian and UK waters.

Coastal sprat reported 3 landings this week, totaling 75 tonnes. The Vestervik accounted for 2 of these operations; on Sunday the vessel caught 40 tonnes of large sprat in Sognefjorden, its highest single record, with an average size of 56 fish per kilogram.

For pelagic sprat, 1 notification was recorded this week, for 770 tonnes, caught by the Astrid-Marie in EU waters, all for fishmeal and fish oil production. In addition, the Themis registered 1,200 tonnes of European sardine landings in EU waters, also all going to the fishmeal and fish oil reduction industry.