Brim Investor presentation Y2025.pdf

Afkoma-brims-hf-2025.pdf

Financial Statements Brim 2025.pdf

Brim Investor presentation Q3 2025_pdf.pdf

afkoma-brims-hf-3f-2025.pdf

Brim Financial Statements 30.09.25_Vefur.pdf

Brim Financial Statements 30.06.25.pdf

afkoma-brims-hf-2f-2025.pdf

brim-fjarfestakynning-f2-2025.pdf

Brim kynning F1 2025.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf 1F 2025.pdf

Brim Financial Statements 31.03.2025.pdf

Annual_Report_2024.pdf

Brim Árshlutareikningur 31.03.2021.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf F1 2021.pdf

Brim fjarfestakynning F1 2021.pdf

Brim Árshlutareikningur 30.06.2021.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf F2 2021.pdf

Brim fjarfestakynning F2 2021.pdf

Brim Árshlutareikningur 30.09.2021.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf F3 2021.pdf

Brim fjarfestakynning F3 2021.pdf

Brim Árshlutareikn 31.03.2020.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf 1Q2020.pdf

Kynning 1F 2020.pdf

Brim Árshlutareikn 30.06.2020.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf 2Q2020.pdf

Kynning 2F 2020.pdf

Brim Árshlutareikn 30.09.2020.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf 3Q2020.pdf

Kynning 3F 2020.pdf

Ársreikningur Brims_hf 2020.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf 2020.pdf

Brim - fjarfestakynning 4F 2020.pdf

HB Grandi Árshlutareikn 31.03.2019.pdf

Brim Árshlutareikn 30.06.2019.pdf

Brim Árshlutareikningur 30.09.2019.pdf

Ársreikningur Brims 2019.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 1Q2019.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf 2Q2019.pdf

Afkoma Brims hf 3Q2019.pdf

Kynning F1 2019.pdf

Brim fjarfestakynning-2f-2019.pdf

brim-fjarfestakynning-3f-2019.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 31.03.2018.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 30.06.2018.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 30.09.2018.pdf

Ársreikningur HB Granda 2018.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf Q1 2018.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 2Q2018.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 3Q2018.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 2018.pdf

Kynning F1 2018.pdf

Kynning F2 2018.pdf

Kynning F3 2018.pdf

Kynning F4 2018.pdf

HB Grandi Árshlutareikn 31.03.2017.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 30.06.2017.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 30.09.2017.pdf

Ársreikningur HB Granda 2017.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 1Q2017.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 2Q2017.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 3Q2017.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 2017.pdf

HB Grandi Kynning á F1 2017.pdf

Kynning á F2 2017.pdf

Kynning á F3 2017.pdf

Kynning á F4 2017.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 31.03.2016.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 1Q2016.pdf

HB Grandi - fjarfestakynning 1F 2016.pdf

Arshlutareikningur 30.06.2016.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 2Q2016.pdf

KynningF2_2016.pdf

Arshlutareikn_30.09.2016.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 3Q2016.pdf

HB Grandi - fjarfestakynning 3F 2016.pdf

Arsreikningur HB Granda 2016.pdf

Afkoma HB Granda hf 2016.pdf

Kynning á F4 2016.pdf

HBGrandi_Arsskyrsla2016.pdf

HBGrandi_Arsskyrsla 2015.pdf

Ársskýrsla 2014.pdf

Ársskýrsla 2013.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 30.06.2012.pdf

Ársskýrsla 2012.pdf

Ársskýrsla 2011.pdf

Ársskýrsla 2010.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 31.3.2015.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 30.06.2015.pdf

Árshlutareikningur 30.09.2015.pdf

Kynning á 1F 2015.pdf

Kynning á F2 2015.pdf

Kynning á F3 2015.pdf

Kynning F4 2015.pdf

Akurey var smíðuð árið 2017 í Tyrklandi.

Sjálfvirkt lestarkerfi er í skipinu og er það verk unnið af Skaganum 3X á Akranesi.

Viðey var smíðuð árið 2017 í Tyrklandi og kom til heimahafnar 21.desember 2017.  Sjálfvirkt lestarkerfi er í skipinu og er það verk unnið af Skaganum 3X á Akranesi.

Vigri var smíðaður árið 1992 í Flekkefjord í Noregi.

Venus var smíðuð árið 2015 í Celiktrans í Tyrklandi.

Víkingur var smíðaður árið 2015 í Celiktrans í Tyrklandi.

Svanur var smíðaður árið 1999 hjá Sanab & Slipen Mek Verkstad As.

Smíðuð árið 1987 af Langsten Slip & Båtbyggeri A/S

Smíðuð 2001 af Myklebust Mekaniske Verksted

News

Happy Holiday

Brim hf.'s offer to purchase all shares in Lýsi hf. has been accepted, subject to approval by the companies' boards of directors, the buyer’s shareholder’ meeting and the approval of the Competition Authority.

The purchase price is based on the enterprice value of Lýsi hf. amounting to ISK 30,000,000,000 (thirty billion krónur). Deducted from this are interest-bearing debts as of June 30, 2025, totalling ISK 5,277,295,082. The purchase price will be paid half in cash and half in shares in Brim hf., based on Brim hf.'s closing share price on September 23, 2025, which was ISK 63 per share.

Further details regarding the transaction will be specified in the parties’ purchase agreement, which will include customary provisions typically applied to transactions of this nature.

The parties see significant synergies and opportunities to strengthen Lýsi hf.'s raw material procurement and for Brim hf. to move further up the seafood value chain.

For more information, contact Guðmundur Kristjánsson, CEO of Brim hf.



Brim hf. kaupir alla hluti í Lýsi hf.

Investor News

Brim hf. acquires all shares in Lýsi hf.

The student association in natural resources studies at the University of Akureyri, Stafnbú, recently visited Brim's headquarters. Guðmundur Kristjánsson, Brim's CEO, welcomed the group and spoke to the eager students about Brim's operations and other matters concerning the company's utilization of marine resources. The visit gave the students an insight into the company's diverse operations and future opportunities in the natural resources sector. Refreshments were served and masago beer was served, which is produced for Icelandic Japan, a subsidiary of Brim. It is clear that the collaboration between the business community and the university community creates valuable opportunities to share experience and knowledge with young people who aspire to work within the sector.

Sjálfbærni

Natural resource studies students visited Brim

The STORM project (System Transition to Renewable Marine Fuels in the Nordics from a Supply Chain Perspective) is an international research initiative, partly funded by Nordic Energy Research. The project is carried out by five research institutions and eight stakeholders, with Icelandic partners including the University of Iceland, Brim, Faxaflóahafnir, and Eimskip. The foreign participants come from Sweden and the Faroe Islands. Each of these partners has different interests in the project. The estimated cost of the project is €944,000.

The aim of STORM is to support the energy transition in ocean-related activities, including fisheries and maritime transport. The project takes a holistic approach, but the energy transition in these sectors must also be viewed in the broader context of the energy transition in other sectors, including the production of energy from sources other than fossil fuels. The project will assess the potential for domestic fuel production as well as the opportunities for improving energy efficiency in ocean-related activities. It will compare various options, focusing on both economic and environmental dimensions. Barriers and drivers for change will be identified, and the necessary government actions required to make the energy transition in ocean-related industries a reality will be outlined.

The project began in late 2024 and is scheduled to run until 2027. While it is in its early stages, the insights gained over the course of the project will provide valuable knowledge to guide the transition to renewable marine fuels in the Nordic region.

Brim participates in an international research project in the field of energy conversion

Brim recently held an educational meeting where the member associations of FESTA– the center for sustainability, were introduced to the company’s operations and how sustainability is integrated into its practices. The meeting reviewed Brim’s emphasis on sustainable resource use, the company’s carbon footprint, and the ambitious goals that aim to promote a more responsible fishing industry.


The meeting was attended by nearly 40 representatives of different companies that are all members of FESTA. They were received by Guðmundur Kristjánsson, CEO, Inga Jóna Friðgeirsdóttir, CFO, Friðrik Friðriksson, attorney, Pálmi Hafþór Ingólfsson, project manager for education and health, and Sveinn Margeirsson, director of innovation and climate affairs. There was much to discuss in the presentations and in the discussions afterwards, as Brim has decades of experience in developing environmentally friendly working methods and other ways that contribute to increased sustainability.

Brim introduced sustainability aspects in its operations to the member associations of FESTA

‘There’s some excellent fishing here, but the catch is very mixed. There’s a huge amount of golden redfish getting in our way and there’s haddock wherever we look,’ said Arnar Haukur Ævarsson, skipper of Brim’s factory trawler Örfirisey.

When we spoke, Örfirisey was on the Hali grounds. This is roughly half-way through the trip and a green weight catch of around 600 tonnes so far, was discharged in a half-landing last week. The first part of the trip has been mainly on south-western fishing grounds.

‘We’ve been looking for saithe, as so often. There wasn’t a lot to be seen, but the redfish catch was fine. There was some haddock to be seen on the Mountains, where we spent most of our time. Then we went north to the Látragrunnur and Flugbraut grounds and had some heavy fishing on clean haddock. At its height, the catch rate hit a tonne per minute, and production capacity limited what we could allow ourselves to catch.’

He commented that after the half-landing, the decision was made to start fishing on the Flugbraut grounds.

‘The fishing for haddock hadn’t slowed down. Then we worked our way along the shallow bank and north to the Hali grounds. There’s been a slight showing of saithe, but here it’s primarily haddock and redfish that predominate.’

Örfirisey has a slot booked on the slipway after this trip, which will be followed by the trawler’s last trip before being sold. It is being replaced by Greenlandic trawler Tuukkaq, which has been acquired by Brim and to become Therney RE-3.

This means some changes among the company’s skippers. Arnar Haukur Ævarsson will skipper Vigri opposite Árni Gunnólfsson. Eythór Atli Scott, who has shared the wheelhouse on board Vigri, takes over Sólborg, which Brim acquired in the autumn of last year.

Heavy fishing on haddock

‘This summer has been fine. I haven’t been on board for a few days, but we fished very well on the Mountains in my last trip, getting both saithe and redfish, and although the saithe showed up, the medium sizes that are the better quality weren’t there,’ said Kristján E. Gíslason, known as Kiddó, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Viðey.

The catch on the Mountains was certainly good, as Viðey’s crew had 80 tonnes of fish for 24 hours’ fishing. According to the skipper, the catch was split roughly equally between saithe and redfish. The saithe for this trip was the typical ‘Mountain’ saithe, while the medium-sized fish that usually shows up as summer progresses has yet to be seen.

‘We headed for the Westfjords after that, and all the way eastwards to the Reykjafjörður Gully. That’s where we had 30 tonnes of mixed sizes of cod. We went from there to the Nes Deeps and did well there, and finished the trip on the Látragrunn grounds. There was fine fishing there for cod and haddock, and the cod are chasing the herring that spawn there in the summer,’ he said, adding that altogether Viðey had a full fishroom of 190 tonnes for the trip.

‘Jón Frímann is in the wheelhouse for the current trip, fishing off the Westfjords. Just like the previous trip, the catch rate is good, although there’s the problem of the amount of redfish on the Hali grounds. It seems to be settled there over the summer, but the volume of redfish affects fishing for other species in the same area,’ skipper Kristján E. Gíslason said.

Mountain saithe shows – no sign of medium sizes

Brim’s factory trawler Vigri is on its way back to fishing grounds after discharging the previous trip’s catch. Eythór Atli Scott was skipper for the trip and he’s satisfied with their catch rates. The problem is to avoid redfish that appears to have flooded the usual fishing areas off the Westfjords, such as the Víkuráll Gully and the Hali Grounds.

‘We were on both the Westfjords and and South-West grounds in this trip. We started on the Greenland halibut grounds on the Hampiðjan Square and had a few days there. Fishing was reasonable for the first two days and then it slowed down. Then we headed south to the Skerja Deeps and some fine fishing for deep redfish and some silver smelt with it. The thing is that although the scientists seem to think the stock is under pressure, fishing for deep redfish has been getting better over the last three years and is showing strong signs of improvement. We had 150 tonnes of deep redfish for this trip without pushing it too hard,’ he said.

After a half-landing of 430 tonnes of product on the 19th of June, a course was set back to the Westfjords, this time to the eastern part of the Víkuráll Gully.

‘There was a lot of redfish there, and it was the same further north on the Hali grounds. But the redfish were mostly about during the day, and at night we were getting saithe and cod. I reckon we had a green weight of 180 tonnes of saithe, and the only larger amount we had was redfish,’ Eythór Atli Scott said, adding that the trip came to an end at Geirastaðir, or the Potato Patch, which are areas west of the Hali grounds.

‘These are old Greenland halibut grounds and we had a good showing of clean halibut for three days. That was enough for us and we headed back to Reykjavík. Altogether we had a green weight of 920 tonnes and the catch value for the trip is around 395 million ISK,’ he said.

Fishing for saithe by night

Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey is on its way to fishing grounds, and according to skipper Óli Grétar Skarphéðinsson, who has been in the wheelhouse for every trip since the Seamen’s Day stopover, catches have been good, although they have had to work for them. Now cod fishing is increasing and there has been some fine fishing for cod in the Reykjafjörður Gully.

‘Most of the fleet has been on the Westfjords grounds. Most of the factory vessels have been on the south-west grounds. Sea ice has been gathering off the north coast and the likelihood is that it could block off our old Greenland halibut areas north of the Strands,’ he said.

In its last trip, Akurey fished well on cod in the Reykjafjörður Gully.

‘There was exceptionally good fishing for 48 hours and we had a decent catch of saithe on the Tunga area that’s on the Kögurgrunn grounds. Our main problem is that there’s a flood of golden redfish pretty much anywhere we dip a trawl in the water. The Hali grounds have been occupied by golden redfish. Those who have fished for redfish have been rewarded with a showing of saithe, but that’s only for those who have a large redfish quota available,’ he said and added that the Víkuráll Gully is another area that isn’t fished due to the presence of redfish.

‘The catch this time was 155 tonnes, and that’s roughly similar to all our trips since Seamen’s Day. There’s little saithe, far too much redfish and we’ve had to work hard for our cod, right up to this last trip,’ Óli Grétar Skarphéðinsson said.

Good fishing for cod, but redfish an obstacle

Brim’s fresher trawler Helga María docked in Reykjavík yesterday after a four-day trip on Westfjords grounds. The catch is 113 tonnes. This is the trawler’s second trip since the Seamen’s Day stopover.

‘We had a two-day trip right after Seamen’s Day, just enough to get production going,’ said skipper Heimir Guðbjörnsson, who has been in the wheelhouse for both trips.

He said that the first trip was on home grounds, on the Mountains.

‘As so often, we were primarily searching for saithe, and that’s elusive. But we managed to get 25-26 tonnes in those two days. The overall catch was 73 tonnes, most of which was species such as golden redfish.’

He said that they sailed northwards to the Westfjords fishing grounds last Thursday evening.

‘We started in the Víkuráll Gully, and there was no saithe to be seen, only golden redfish. We shifted to the bank west of Patreksfjörður. There were cod and saithe there, and some golden redfish with it. We couldn’t stop there long as the ice was starting to spread across the area. We moved off as the ice stretched out and meant to go to the Hali grounds. That turned out to not be an option, because of the ice, and we had no choice but to head home. The catch was respectable, and I’m happy with it, considering the difficult conditions,’ he said, adding that as long as the southerly and south-westerly winds continue to blow, the ice will remain in the Westfjords grounds.

‘We hardly dare hope for a good blow of an easterly wind. There’s nothing on the weather charts but a continuing south-westerly and while that lasts most of the Westfjords grounds won’t be accessible for fishing,’ Heimir Guðbjörnsson said.

Endless south-westerlies pile up sea ice

‘Things came together as we got into the trip. We have a catch value of ISK620 million, which is not bad considering we’ve had foul weather the whole time. There were endless storms and there were just a few rare good days when we could work. Maybe it’s best not to say too much. We’re well into Faxaflói now and there’s 30m/sec wind from the north and it’s bitter cold,’ said Arnar Haukur Ævarsson, skipper of Brim’s factory trawler Örfirisey, when we spoke to him yesterday.

Örfirisey has been fishing for the last few weeks in the Norwegian zone of the Barents Sea, and he said that they have been on the Hjelmsøy Bank, the Fugløy Deeps and north of the Nordkapp Bank. There has been heavy winter weather on these fishing grounds and storms from day one.

‘Around 80% of the catch is cod. This is not the season fish that we would have preferred, but it’s all good-quality three to three and a half kilo cod. We also have around 80 tonnes of haddock and other species. The catch is a total green weight of 1200 tonnes, with a product weight of 430 tonnes. There’s plenty of variation in the product range.’

He commented that there have been few Icelandic vessels fishing in the Barents Sea, but there has been a particularly noticeable number of Norwegian and Russian vessels.

‘As well as us, Sólberg was fishing there, as were Björgvin and Harðbakur, and those two landed their whole catches to a processor in Honningsvåg in the north of Norway,’ Arnar Haukur Ævarsson said.

Work began early this morning to discharge the catch from Örfirisey, which will be spending only 36 hours in Reykjavík before heading back to the Barents Sea.

‘We’re going to fetch the remainder of the quota. I understand we have caught around half of our allocation. We looked at the option of landing in Vopnafjörður, but the activity of the capelin fleet made that impractical. So the choice went to our home port,’ said Arnar Haukur Ævarsson, who now gets a trip ashore after forty days in the wheelhouse. Ævar Smári Jóhannsson takes over as skipper for the next trip.

Barents Sea trip’s ISK620 million catch value

‘There are worse things to do than to take notice of the names of the spots where big saithe show themselves. We haven’t seen large grades of saithe for weeks this season, and then there was a fine showing on the Eldey Bank at the end of last week. We were getting eight to twelve tonnes of five to seven kilo saithe for tows of generally between two and a half and four hours,’ said Heimir Guðbjörnsson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Helga María.

The trawler is back at sea again, and is on the Belgableyða (Bladder Patch) south of the Eldey Bank.

‘We’re on our second tow and there’s a lot less saithe. We’re getting around a tonne of large saithe per towing hour and we’ll be staying in this area in the hope that the saithe show up again in style,’ he said, adding that the last trip started on the Eldey Bank and the Mountains.

‘There were cod, redfish and haddock, but the no saithe in any amounts. We had a tonne of saithe per hour, and then there were reports of decent fishing for cod and haddock mixed with saithe on the Toe and the Selvogur Bank. We went over there and had up to three tonnes of saithe in each tow, mixed with cod and haddock. It didn’t last for long and we left there in winds of 20 metres per second and bitter cold,’ he said, commenting that then he heard reports of good fishing for saithe on the Eldey Bank.

‘This showing is over for the time being and we’ll wait patiently for the next round. This will be a short trip for us. We’re due to be alongside in Reykjavík on Friday morning, which gives us forty-eight hours’ fishing time. The wind’s less today than it has been for quite a while and it’s supposed to moderate tomorrow,’ Heimir Guðbjörnsson said.

Strong showing of saithe on the Eldey Bank

‘I don’t have any better idea than anyone else of where the saithe are these days. We’ve lost them completely. The season saithe haven’t shown up and we’re happy if we see a handful of them. On the other hand, there’s plenty of cod and haddock on most fishing grounds and golden redfish are literally everywhere,’ said Árni Gunnólfsson, skipper of Brim’s factory trawler Vigri.

Vigri docked this morning after a relatively short time at sea. This was a half-landing of 11-12,000 boxes, equivalent to a green weight of 300 tonnes of fish.

‘We’ve been fishing south and south-west of Reykjanes and fishing has been reasonably good. We had a little deep redfish on the Matthildur grounds, and had a look at the Toe and the Selvogur Bank. There was some very mixed fish on the Toe. This was mostly haddock, plus some cod, golden redfish and a little saithe. There’s the same situation in other areas, except that saithe are completely missing. There are similar reports from the Westfjords grounds. There has often been decent fishing for saithe on the Hali grounds at this time of year, but now they are nowhere to be seen. But there’s golden redfish everywhere and that’s been seen all the way down to 250 fathoms,’ he said.

He commented that he doesn’t agree with the widespread opinion that the Mountains are bare of fish.

‘Of course, there’s golden redfish there and enough cod. These are the species that we aren’t looking for. It’s all about finding and catching saithe. We’re sailing again tonight and I’d be surprised if we’re expected to keep on chasing saithe down south,’ Árni Gunnólfsson said, adding that the trip is scheduled to end on 30th March.

Saithe nowhere to be seen

‘We’ve been fishing now for 13 days for a green weight of 500 tonnes of fish. We’ve had all kinds of weather, including terrible weather now for the last 24 hours. It looks like the weather will moderate this evening, but there won’t be much fishing until then,’ said Arnar Haukur Ævarsson, skipper of factory trawler Örfirisey, currently fishing in the Norwegian zone of the Barents Sea.

He said that the difficult conditions have meant they have had to search around for fish.

‘Right now we’re on the North Cape Bank, but the furthest east and north we have been was the Mars Ridge, which is 73°15’N, 28°40’E.’

He commented that the quota is for cod, and the allowable by-catch of other species can be up to 30%. How much of other species than cod can be caught is variable. The by-catch of saithe and haddock can be as much as 48-49%, but redfish must not exceed 20%. The golden rule is that the majority of each haul must be cod.

‘The fish we have been getting is fine quality. It’s been feeding well on capelin, and we have been aware of capelin over a wide area. The cod are in the three to four kilo range, but there’s an occasional big ‘season’ cod to be seen in the catch,’ he said, adding that with a large number of fishing vessels at work, this can prevent there being large catches.

‘There’s a lot of Russians here, as well as the Norwegians and Faroese, and as always, skippers are quick to react when there’s news of a decent catch somewhere. So the fishing tends to drop away quickly.’

He reported that there are four trawlers from Iceland at work. As well as Örfirisey, these are factory trawlers Sólberg, Björgvin and Harðbakur.

‘Sólberg is due to be heading home tomorrow and I hear that Harðbakur and maybe Björgvin are aiming to land fresh catches in Honningsvåg. As for us, we’re scheduled to dock in Iceland on 23rd March, and I expect we’ll need two trips to catch Brim’s cod quota here in Norwegian waters,‘ Arnar Haukur Ævarsson said.

Good fishing – when we can fish due to the weather

‘There has been good fishing on the edge of the Eldey Bank and that’s not the case for some areas on the fishing grounds off the Reykjanes peninsula. There’s no winter season feel to this so far. We’re waiting for the season to get underway properly,’ said Óli Grétar Skarphéðinsson, who has been skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey recently.

Akurey is currently alongside in Reykjavík and its catch for the last trip was 135 tonnes. Most of the catch was cod, as well as golden redfish, deep redfish and saithe. The cod averaged a weight of around four kilos. Very good fish, as the skipper described it.

‘We were mostly on the edge of the Eldey Bank during the last trip. Fishing was fine and I have to admit that it’s challenging to avoid getting too much golden redfish with the cod. There’s a lot of redfish there,’ he said, adding that they also fished on the Eldeyjarboði, the Mountains, Matthildur and the Little Bank areas.

‘The trip south to Matthildur and the Little Bank gave us 15 tonnes of deep redfish, but there was nothing around Eldeyjarboði and the Mountains are bare, to put it mildly. For example, we towed for four and a half hours, and the result was two tubs of golden redfish. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Mountains so bare of fish.’

Óli Grétar Skarphéðinsson commented that there’s no weight of fish so far this season. There is no sign yet of large saithe, and there’s no strong migration of cod into the shallows.

‘There was a showing of saithe on the Toe a few days ago. We missed out on that showing of large saithe and are waiting for the season to get going,’ said Óli Grétar Skarphéðinsson, who was for many years with the Útgerðarfélag Reykjavíkur fleet before joining Brim permanently. He has been on trawlers such as Kleifaberg, Guðmundur í Nesi and Sólborg, which is currently dry-docked in Hafnarfjörður.

Waiting for the season to get going

‘There’s a colossal amount of golden redfish everywhere and I don’t want to even think about where we would be now of we hadn’t shown the utmost caution,’ said Kristján E. Gíslason (Kiddó), skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Viðey, which was in port in Reykjavík yesterday. The catch was 110 tonnes, the bulk of which was caught during the last day of the trip on the Eldey Bank.

‘If anything, I would have preferred to have shifted southwards a day earlier,’ he said, commenting that the trip started on Westfjords grounds.

‘There was nothing to be had there but wind. No fish, just wind and plenty of it. We started in the Víkuráll Gully. There had been a three-day showing of cod there, but that was over by the time we arrived. There was a huge volume of golden redfish everywhere in the Víkuráll Gully and the only way to fish there is to avoid redfish,’ he said.

From the Víkuráll Gully Viðey shifted north the Thveráll area, where there was much the same story: heavy weather and no cod or saithe.

‘It’s tempting to think that the cod that had been seen in the Víkuráll Gully is part of a migration from the west, in this case from the Dohrn Bank. This is typical spawning cod, four to six kilo fish,’ he said. This opinion is echoed by Brim’s experienced skippers, as has been mentioned here before.

Viðey finished its trip on the Eldey Bank.

‘We were fishing alone most of the time. We had some decent cod and a scattering of large seasonal saithe. I’d give it three weeks until they start to show properly. The middle of March is when they tend to turn up.’

‘No golden redfish?’

‘Do you need to ask? If we weren’t careful we wouldn’t be able to tow for an hour without coming to grief,’ Kristján E. Gíslason said.

Caution saves the day

Brim’s fresher trawler Helga María docked in Reykjavík at the beginning of this week. This was earlier than had been scheduled, but the ship was recalled due to weather conditions.

According to skipper Friðleifur Einarsson, this was a trip during appalling weather.

‘We started fishing on the Eldey Bank, but had no luck there and moved to the Mountains and stayed there until we were called in. We were fishing for just 48 hours, but in fact we only managed a few hours as the weather went wild and then calmed down again,’ he said, commenting that he can only be satisfied with the results of these two days.

‘We’ve 55 tonnes of fish. Around half of that is saithe, and we have some golden redfish and a mix of other species. This is good saithe. It’s the usual winter season fish and there’s some roe to be seen in them.’

Friðleifur Einarsson said that they expect to sail again today.

‘I’m not sure where we’ll be heading, but I’m expecting to steam north to Westfjords grounds. I’ve heard things don’t look great up there, with not a lot to be had. But you never know. Catch rates can shoot up with no warning. We’re just hoping the weather leaves us in peace,’ he said, adding that overall they can be happy with the fishing since the beginning of the year. January had been mostly fine, and it’s only now in the first part of February that the weather has made life difficult for them.

Called in due to heavy weather

Work started in Reykjavík Yesterday morning to discharge factory trawler Vigri’s catch for the first trip of the year. This was a green weight of roughly 700 tonnes, with a catch value of approximately ISK350 million.

‘I’m satisfied with the results, not least considering the time of year. In January you can expect anything. In fact the weather was not bad for the first part of the trip, but more recently it has been appalling and we’ve twice had to seek shelter from the weather,’ said skipper Árni Gunnólfsson.

He said that the trip started on the Reykjanesgrunn grounds.

‘We started out searching for saithe. This has been difficult to get to grips with over the last few weeks, but with 240 tonnes of saithe for the trip we can’t complain. But we were everywhere this trip,’ he said and added that this took them to grounds off the east coast that are rarely visited by trawlers from Reykjavík.

‘The east coast trawlers fish these grounds regularly and they have been getting cod in areas such as the Seyðisfjörður Deeps. We tried there and didn’t see a lot of cod. This was more mixed fishing, saithe, haddock and cod. In fact, haddock is a headache everywhere and you find it all over. So this was cautious fishing for us, as we didn’t want to get too much haddock.’

Vigri didn’t visit Westfjords grounds after its time off the east coast, but instead headed back to fishing grounds off Reykjanes.

‘We looked for deep redfish in the Skerja Deeps and off Matthildur. We can only be pleased with our deep redfish catch for the trip. We have a hundred tonnes of deep redfish, caught mostly in the Skerja Deeps and off Matthildur, and some from the Little Deeps off the east coast. We saw some silver smelt in the Skerja Deeps, but weren’t specially searching for it, as the plan wasn’t to fish for silver smelt this trip,’ he said, and commented that the trip finished up on the Airstrip grounds south-west of the Snæfellsnes peninsula.

‘We did well there for haddock, saithe, golden redfish and cod,’ Árni Gunnólfsson said.

Decent trip – for the time of year

There aren’t many who are still at the top of their game with half a century in the same job behind them. One such is Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson, best known as Elli, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Viðey. Elli was sailing last evening for his last trip, and this spring it will be 52 years since he joined the crew of side trawler Thormóður Goði, owned by Bæjarútgerð Reyjavíkur (BÚR) and skippered by Magnús Ingólfsson.

For many years Elli has been the trawler skipper who has landed the highest volumes, more than 10,000 tonnes in some years, and he just shakes his head when he’s asked what the secret is behind this exceptional success.

‘In all honesty, I don’t have the faintest idea. It’s never been my aim to be top skipper. You ask about the secret. If there is any such thing, then it must be that I always find it as fun and exciting to sail for a new trip as I did half a century ago. This is always a new challenge. If there’s any magic behind what I’ve been doing, then it’s to be found among the hard-working, skilled seamen I’ve worked with, and the fine companies I’ve worked for. I don’t know who takes over from me, but Kiddó (Kristján E. Gíslason), who has sailed as relief skipper, certainly deserves the job, in my opinion,’ Elli said.

Country lad

Seafaring wasn’t the obvious choice for a career. Elli’s background is among the farming families in the Kjós district. He comes from Meðalfell, where his father was born and raised, and his mother came from Káranes, another nearby farm.

‘Presumably farming was never captivating and somehow the sea called, and fishing was the obvious choice. I’ve always felt at home at sea, but I’m turning seventy this year and feel that it’s right to call it a day at this point.’

Elli hadn’t been long at sea before he switched to another BÚR trawler, Jón Baldvinsson, which was skippered by Snorri Friðriksson. This was where Elli became mate, and took over as skipper in 1983.

‘This is a ship that’s still fishing, in Chile where it was sold back in the day, and it’s been through a few changes since then,’ Elli said.

22 years as skipper of Ottó N. Thorláksson

In 1995 Elli took over as skipper of trawler Ottó N. Thorláksson, operated initially by BÚR, then Grandi and HB Grandi, and was on board until 2017 when Viðey joined the fleet.

‘Ottó is a fine ship. It has weight to it and it was good to be on board. But it was a huge change to switch over to Viðey. That’s a ship that barely moves in the worst the weather can throw at it, and looking back, it’s a privilege to finish up on a ship as fine as Viðey certainly is,’ he said, commenting that Viðey’s outstanding seakeeping qualities were demonstrated during the last trip.

‘It blew a storm the whole time, apart from a couple of times when it dropped away for a few hours at a time. Despite this, the crew were comfortable and you’d have thought there was fairly decent weather if you hadn’t known better. Unfortunately, we were sent for our second trip in January to grounds south of Reykjanes, which we call the Cowshed. Fishing was poor and the weather was even worse. I forget catch figures right away, and never think back over that. I just try to do my best each time,’ Elli said, but to keep things straight, that was an 80-tonne trip, mostly deep redfish and golden redfish.

No retirement anxiety

Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson is retiring and says he has no anxiety about this new chapter.

‘It’s a relief, and I’ll find something to keep me busy. Slowing right down isn’t on the agenda. Right now I’m hoping we’ll be sent to the Westfjords for this last trip. The ice must have disappeared from the fishing grounds by now and the fish are waiting.’

Stepping down after 52 years at sea

A covering of sea ice is hampering fishing from the Thverálshorn and the Hali grounds, all the way south the Barðagrunn area. According to Helga María’s skipper Heimir Guðbjörnsson, the ice extends from twelve miles offshore, and this is mainly a thin surface layer, although there are thicker strips of ice at intervals. These rule out trawling.

‘We sailed from Reykjavík on Friday. We knew there was good fishing in the Thveráll Gully and Heiðardalur, but the catch rate had dropped by the time we got there. We stayed on some mixed fishing in the Thveráll Gully, which was mostly haddock with some cod. There was also some saithe and redfish. When the sea ice appeared we saw we couldn’t continue and shifted further south. Then we were on the Kögurgrunn, where there was some fishing for haddock. But the haddock proportion of the catch increased steadily and we had to move on,’ he said, and Helga María was on the western corner of the Víkuráll Gully when he spoke to us.

‘We’re on some good-quality large cod here, 4.5 to 5 kilos, and this is clearly cod that’s on its way from the Dohrn Bank, heading into Breiðafjörður and Faxaflói to spawn. There isn’t much roe in these fish, so it looks like they have a few weeks to go before spawning.’

He reported that the last two hauls yielded twenty tonnes of cod. There are no other trawlers in the area, apart from Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson which is that the eastern end of the Víkuráll Gully. He commented that reports from there are of a strengthening migration of haddock.

‘We have 65 tonnes so far, and we’re working on adding to that. We have until midday tomorrow, as we’re scheduled to be alongside in Reykjavík early on Thursday morning. I’m not looking forward to a pleasant steam home. The forecast is for a stiff southerly or south-westerly and there’ll be heavy seas on the way home,‘ Heimir Guðbjörnsson said.

Sea ice covers Westfjords fishing grounds

‘The year’s got off to an acceptable start on the Westfjods fishing grounds, even though fishing has often been better. The last trip was a good one, with fine fishing and flat calm the whole time. We had 160 tonnes of which around 100 tonnes were cod,’ said Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Viðey.

Viðey was alongside in Reykjavík yesterday and is now on its way back to fishing grounds, having completed three trips so far this year – one on south-western grounds and two off the Westfjords.

‘The first trip of the year was pretty much like a trip through the desert. We were sent to fishing grounds off the south-west, and catches of the species we were looking for were very scarce. We did much better off the Westfjords in the second trip, and had some fine fishing during the last trip.’

He said that last trip began on the Thveráll Gully, before shifting to the Heiðardalur grounds. There was good fishing for cod in both areas, and he added that the cod were excellent, averaging 3.5 to 5 kilos.

‘We finished up on the Hali grounds, trying to find some saithe. The results were patchy, but there was plenty of cod everywhere we went,’ Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson said.

Viðey is already back at sea, which should provide the crew with some good days for fishing before the next depression brings forecast warm air and rain to Iceland on Friday.

Good fishing for cod on Westfjords grounds

‘The new year looks promising, especially if the weather improves. The Westfjords fishing grounds have been off-limits for a few days now due to bad weather. I’m not worried about catch rates. There’s been heavy fishing in the Víkuráll Gully, and some steady fishing south of Reykjanes,’ said Eiríkur Jónsson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey.

Akurey was in port over the weekend after its first trip of the year, landing 170-180 tonnes. Akurey was sailing again Monday afternoon.

‘We started in the Víkuráll Gully and had our cod allocation of 100 tonnes in a short time. There was some heavy fishing there and fortunately the golden redfish are keeping further to the north. There’s redfish everywhere,’ he said, adding that with their cod on board, it was time to head south.

‘There was a steady turnover of saithe on the Toe and we had 27 tonnes altogether. Then we were on mixed fish on the Reykjanesgrunn and the only thing that spoiled it was the weather,’ he said, commenting that the catch there was a mix. Mostly this was cod, plus some redfish and saithe, and a few tonnes of other species. The cod were a good size, averaging around four kilos.

Heavy fishing in the Víkuráll Gully

‘We sailed from Reykjavík yesterday evening, shot away on the Mountains late last night and had around four tonnes of saithe for a three-hour tow. Today we’re in the Skerja Deeps and hoping to get some deep redfish. I’m making the most of the light and we’re towing as long as the daylight lasts. That’s around five hours today,’ said Heimir Guðbjörnsson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Helga María.

He was also skipper during the previous trip, which started off on the Dohrn Bank, midway between Iceland and Greenland.

‘We were on the Dohrn Bank alongside Viðey and did well on cod, fine quality five to six kilo cod. There are spells of good fishing in that area in the autumn and into December. I’m not sure where the cod are heading, but they seem to be moving eastwards. It could well be that the cod are making for spawning areas in Breiðafjörður, or for the spawning grounds off the south coast,’ he said, commenting that despite good fishing, the decision was to give the Dohrn Bank a rest and look for saithe in the Víkuráll Gully.

‘Unfortunately, there wasn’t much saithe to be seen in the Víkuráll Gully, and there was more golden redfish. That’s the way it has been all through the autumn. It’s been challenging to find saithe, and the large volumes of golden redfish everywhere haven’t made searching any easier.’

Now that news has broken of fishing for capelin in the Kolbeinsey area, an influx of cod can be expected in that area.

‘I haven’t heard anything so far, but if the capelin are there in any amount, the the cod won’t be far behind them. They follow capelin. They are high in the water as the capelin marks tighten up, and drop back deeper during darkness,’ Heimir Guðbjörnsson said.

Helga María had a 125 tonne catch for its last trip, most of which was cod, with the last days of the trip used to search for saithe. Heimir Guðbjörnsson and his crew weren’t able to find saithe on the Mountains, but finally hit saithe marks on the Reykjanesgrunn.

Saithe at night, deep redfish by day


‘We decided to work shallower water, in the Víkuráll Gully, to search for marks of saithe. This is so that the cod that we planned to finish the trip on is as fresh as possible when it goes for processing. Helga María has already sailed and we’re following,’ said Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Viðey, fishing on the Dohrn Bank between Iceland and Greenland when we caught up with him.

He added that this is Viðey’s third trip this winter to the Dohrn Bank.

‘We had one trip here in November, and again in the last trip. That was good fishing of 180 tonnes, most of which was fine quality cod of mainly five to six kilos. That catch was landed in Grundarfjörður and trucked to Reykjavík for processing,’ he said and commented that the number of fishing vessels working on the Dohrn Bank has increased as news of good fishing has spread.

‘More trawlers working here isn’t a bad thing. There’s space here for all of us.’

He said that he’s not shy of trying to find saithe in the Víkuráll Gully, even though that’s an area that has become known for heavy fishing for golden redfish.

‘Fortunately, we can take a little golden redfish this trip and that means we can look for saithe in the Víkuráll Gully,’ he said, and added that on the Dohrn Bank there are hardly any other species than cod to be seen. There have been no marks of capelin to be seen in either this trip or the previous one.




Dohrn Bank yields quality cod

Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey is fishing now on the Hali grounds and according to skipper Jón Frímann Eiríksson, this is the first day of the that they have been able to use twin-rig gear, and he commented that working two trawls side by side yields significantly better results than towing a single trawl.

‘We started on the Látragrunn. We took it slowly because of the weather and it seemed as well to shoot the gear. So we towed north along the western bank, and by Saturday we were on the Hali grounds. To start with there wasn’t weather for fishing, practically blowing a storm, but it’s dropped away now. Today it’s been fine. We’ve been able to tow two trawls all day and fishing has been good,’ he said, and estimated that the catch so far is around 80 tonnes. The bulk of the catch is cod, plus some other species such as saithe, haddock and redfish.

Jón Frímann was also skipper for the previous trip which ended with a 140 tonne landing in Reykjavík.

‘Everything worked out perfectly as we could work the twin-rig gear, almost right up to the end of the trip when yet another depression caught up with us. We were on Westfjords grounds the whole trip. We took the cod allocation easily and were getting two and up to two and a half tonnes per towing hour, while those working one trawl were mostly getting a tonne per hour.’

He said that there hasn’t been a great deal of saithe to be seen off the Westfjords.

‘They say that saithe are elusive, and I can agree with that. A reason for low saithe catches is also that nobody wants to go and search for it for fear of getting golden redfish instead. There are plenty of trawlers in the situation that if they catch too much redfish, then their whole fishing year is in jeopardy.  We’re only a quarter of the way into the quota year and it’s a tragedy to have to tie up when there’s plenty left of other fish in the sea,’ Jón Frímann Eiríksson said.

Akurey is scheduled to dock in Grundarfjörður tomorrow evening. By landing in Grundarfjörður instead of Reykjavík a significant saving is made in fuel and time spent steaming.

Results with twin-rig gear

The last few trips for Brim’s fresher trawler Helga María has taken it to more widespread fishing grounds than usual. Today Helga María is fishing on the Hali grounds off the Westfjords after spending several weeks fishing off the east coast. The round trip around the country will be completed when the trawler docks in Reykjavík for its scheduled landing on Monday.

‘There had been very good fishing for cod on the Glettinganesgrunn when we sailed, but of course that had slowed down by the time we got there. We headed for Tangaflak, off Dalatangi, where we had mixed cod and haddock. Fishing was good and we had 110 tonnes for three days, which was offloaded in Neskaupstaður on 9th November,’ skipper Heimir Guðbjörnsson said.

He added that they had plenty of work ahead of them when they sailed again.

‘I decided to try working deeper water and we started fishing on the Gerpistota area, where there was some good fishing at the eastern end. We did our best to find saithe in the Berufjörður Gully, but there was no saithe to be seen there. We tried on the Shoulder Blade as well, and had only cod there. As the next landing had been scheduled for Sauðárkrókur, we worked our way westwards along the north coast. There was very good fishing on the Digranesflak grounds, directly east of Vopnafjörður. We finished up in the Cupboard, and this is an area east of Langanes. We had enough of both haddock and saithe to be satisfied,’ he said, commenting that the good fishing off the east coast recently does not come as a surprise.

‘The herring are the reason for this. The cod know there’s a lot of herring there, and they follow them. There’s still fishing for Atlanto-Scandian herring and the foreign pelagic vessels weren’t far from where we were,’ he said, adding that they landed 100 tonnes in Sauðárkrókur. After a short stopover, Helga María headed for Westfjords fishing grounds.

‘We’ve heard reports of saithe on the Hali grounds and it’s worthwhile having a try for saithe. Apart from that, the Westfjords grounds have been practically off-limits these last few weeks because of heavy weather. The autumn depressions have resulted in lousy weather off the Westfjords for some time. We can’t complain right now as the weather is fine and we hope it stays that way. We haven’t been here long so there’s nothing to report on catch rates. Saithe don’t show themselves until dusk and through the night, and there’s not much action during daylight,’ Heimir Guðbjörnsson said.

Closing the circle by Monday

Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey is steaming westwards along Iceland’s south coast after a successful trip to grounds off the east of the country. According to skipper Eiríkur Jónsson, the catch is around 105 tonnes after just under two days’s fishing.

‘We headed eastwards from Thorlákshöfn where we landed last time, and shot away for the first tow on Wednesday morning. The last haul was on the deck at five o’clock this morning. There’s a lot of cod off the east coast and we estimate this trip’s catch is 105 tonnes. This is all fine fish and I’d guess the average weight at three kilos,’ he said, adding that there is a number of fishing vessels on those grounds. As well as the Icelandic fleet, there are Faroese and Norwegian vessels fishing for Atlanto-Scandian herring.

‘There’s activity over a wide area. Some are fishing for haddock mixed with other fish on the shallows and others are further north. We were mostly south of Gerpir and the area known as the Shoulder Blade. The Icelandic summer-spawning herring isn’t showing up as marks, but it could be dispersed,’ he said.

On the way west and before docking to discharge, the plan is to fish for saithe and deep redfish.

‘I expect to go to the usual areas, the Skerja Deeps and around the Selvogur Bank. The Mountains have been closed off for a while. That’s been done because there’s believed to be too much small saithe on those grounds,’ Eiríkur Jónsson said.

A hundred tonnes of cod in 48 hours

Brim’s factory trawler Örfirisey is now on fishing grounds east of Iceland with the aim of finding haddock. The trawler was on the Gerpisflak grounds when we spoke to skipper Ævar Jóhannsson.

‘We sailed on 4th November and started on the Westfjords grounds. There was fish there, but mixed with too much redfish and cod for us. Then the forecast for the Westfjords looked poor. So steaming to the east was the best choice. There had been reports of good fishing for haddock on east coast fishing grounds, and with no golden redfish making a nuisance of themselves,’ he said.

He commented that Örfirisey hasn’t been there for long, but has made a good start.

‘We had a good showing of haddock in the Gerpisflak shallows. The cod keep to deeper water and out on the banks. We’re doing our best to avoid cod, and hope that we’ll be able to.’

He said that they intend to concentrate on haddock for the next few days and he expects to finish the trip on the south-western fishing grounds.

‘With luck we’ll manage to catch some deep redfish and saithe, and we’re scheduled to dock on 28th November,’ Ævar Jóhannsson said.

This will allow Örfirisey one more trip before Christmas. Arnar Haukur Ævarsson will take over as skipper for the next trip, as he was during the last trip when the catch was a green weight of 860 tonnes with a value of ISK 400 million.

‘We hit a strong patch of saithe on the Mountains, and that made all the difference,’ Arnar Haukur Ævarsson said.

Searching for haddock on eastern grounds

‘Right now we’re on the Geldinganesflak and there has been good fishing for cod here in the east. Every year the cod gather off the east coast at this time of year, and this year seems to be no exception,’ said Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Viðey, when we spoke to him today.

There is quite a fleet on fishing grounds off eastern Iceland, for all the same reasons that brought Viðey to this area. The aim is to catch the cod while they are there.

‘Viðey’s last trip was also spent here and the catch was landed in Sauðárkrókur. Around 120-130 tonnes were trucked to Reykjavík for processing. We’re on our second day’s fishing and the catch rate is comparable to the previous trip,’ he said, commenting that the cod are fine quality and of a good size at three to four kilos.

‘It’s no bad thing to give the Westfjords a rest for a while. There’s bad weather there now and the forecast is poor, at least for the whole weekend. But here the weather is just fine,’ he said.

The likelihood is that Viðey will head to port to land on Sunday. The plan is to discharge the catch in Thorlákshöfn and from there to make for south-western fishing grounds. The Westfjords grounds can wait, as he said that fishing there for cod is still slow. On the other hand, saithe and redfish have shown up at times, but fishing in general there has been nothing special. The only thing that can be relied on it the weather, and that’s rarely good.

Good fishing for cod on east coast grounds

Brim hf. invests in Polar Seafood Denmark A/S
Brim hf. has entered in agreement to purchase shares in the Danish company Polar Seafood Denmark A/S from private companies held by Helge Nielsen, Bent Norman Petersen, and Louise Schov Petersen through a newly established Danish holding company owned 100% by Brim hf. The purchase price is 245 mDKK. Additionally, Brim hf. has subscribed for new shares in the company (PSD) for the sum of 380 mDKK. The total purchase price payable by Brim is thus 625 mDKK. Following completion of the transaction, the total ownership of Brim hf. in Polar Seafood Danmark will be 50% and the remaining shares in the company will be owned by Polar Seafood Greenland A/S. The agreement is subject to customary conditions for transactions of this kind, such as approval from the relevant authorities.

Polar Seafood Denmark A/S is a sales company, processor and exporter of high-quality wild seafood from the North Atlantic Ocean. The annual turnover in 2021 was 3,792 mDKK and profit after tax was 229 mDKK. Brim hf. is a listed company on Nasdaq Iceland. The company has integrated operations in fishing, processing and international marketing and sales in order to promote more efficient production and ensure an unrestricted pathway of the catch to the buyer. Following the sale of shares Helge Nielsen will retire as managing director of Polar Seafood Denmark A/S and Henrik Leth who has served as the chairman of the board, will replace him as the company´s managing director.

Henrik Leth, chairman of the board of Polar Seafood Denmark A/S:
“Brim is an ideal partner and I look forward to developing our cooperation. Polar Seafood has a strong sales network which will complement Brim´s established sales network, especially in South-East Asia. We are equal partners, and we share the same experience and values.”

Guðmundur Kristjánsson, CEO of Brim hf.:
“Polar Seafood Denmark A/S is a well know company with a long history in the sale of seafood from the North Atlantic Ocean. Its operations are solid, and the staff has extensive experience in serving the global seafood markets. Partnering with Polar Seafood Denmark is a positive development and will strengthen our sales network of seafood from the North Atlantic Ocean.”

For further information:
Henrik Leth, chairman of the board of Polar Seafood Greenland A/S og Polar Seafood Denmark A/S, Tlf.: +299 554350 / +45 2224 8258, email: leth@polarseafood.gl
Guðmundur Kristjánsson, CEO of Brim hf. Email: fjarfestatengsl@brim.is

Brim hf. invests in Polar Seafood Denmark A/S

Fresher trawler Helga María docked in Reykjavík in the beginning of the weekafter a good trip that brought it to areas that include the Dohrn Bank, between Iceland and Greenland, where there are fine cod at certain times of the year.

‘We started off in the Víkuráll Gully and had a couple of tows there. There hasn’t been much fishing there since the golden redfish quota was cut back, but production wanted ten tonnes of redfish, so that was what took us to the Víkurál Gully,’ said skipper Friðleifur Einarsson. The next stop was the Dohrn Bank, around 200 nautical miles from Reykjavík.

A few decades ago this was a prime area for large, high-quality shrimp, but now this is where cod gather at the beginning of winter.

‘There wasn’t much activity on the Dohrn Bank, and there were at most four trawlers at work. Fishing was good and the cod didn’t let us down. This is good quality fish with an average weight of well over five kilos. We were towing mostly at 200 fathoms and the weather was good during the time we spent there.’

He commented that there was one haul taken on the Hampiðjan Square on the way home.

‘We were mainly looking out for deep redfish and had six tonnes, or around a tonne per towing hour. That’s respectable. In the Víkuráll Gully we get mixed fish, even though the majority is golden redfish. This one haul was enough to make up what production was asking for,’ Friðleifur Einarsson said, adding that they are sailing again after landing. The next trip is on home grounds off Reykjanes, and this time they will be looking to do well on saithe.

Top quality cod from the Dohrn Bank

Fresher trawler Akurey is fishing on the bank west of the Hali grounds and the aim is to land as much cod as possible this trip. According to skipper Eiríkur Jónsson, this isn’t going as well as he would like and fishing for cod is very slow at the moment.

Akurey docked in Grundarfjörður yesterday evening and sailed again before midnight when the catch had been offloaded.

‘It wasn’t a lot, 70 to 80 tonnes, but that was after just three days’ fishing. When trips are short and we’re not landing large amounts, then it’s good to have the option of offloading in Grundarfjörður when we’re fishing on Westfjords grounds. This saves us 12 to 14 hours’ steaming back and forth to land in Reykjavík,’ he said.

He added that cod fishing has been slow and there is a lot of searching going on.

‘We’ve been mainly on the bank, and also in the Djúpáll Gully, the Hali grounds and as far east as the Thveráll Gully. Some trawlers have gone all the way to the Thverálshorn grounds and the only reports I’ve heard from those areas are that there was a showing of fish one night and then it was all over. Redfish isn’t a problem and I hear that there’s some heavy fishing for redfish on the bank at the moment,’ Eiríkur Jónsson said, adding that the only reports of good fishing for cod come from east coast grounds.

‘I hear that the Síldarvinnslan and Samherji trawlers and maybe some boats from Hornafjörður have been fishing reasonably well on cod somewhere off the east,’ he said.







Slow progress on cod

Brim’s fresher trawler Viðey docked in Reykjavík early this morning with around sixty tonnes on board after two days spent fishing. Skipper Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson said that the trip was a short one as both the trawl doors and warps needed maintenance.

‘We’ve been landing occasionally outside Reykjavík during the autumn and haven’t had access to these services elsewhere,’ he said.

Viðey has been fishing on the Hali grounds and he commented that he’s reasonably satisfied with the catch, despite this being a short trip. The massive reduction in the golden redfish quota places Viðey and most other trawlers in an awkward position, as redfish isn’t something that can be avoided.

‘There isn’t much fishing on the southern grounds while nobody dares go there because of the redfish,’ he said and added that this includes fishing grounds such as the Mountains area. He said that the same doubtless applies to the Víkuráll Gully. Nobody dares fish there due to the redfish restriction.

‘Apart from that, it’s business as usual.The saithe come and go, and there’s always a shot of saithe now and again.’

Viðey is heading back to sea as soon as the catch has been discharged and once the doors and warps have had the attention they need.

‘We’ll be on our way back to the Westfjords. There’s lousy weather forecast from Friday through to Sunday, so we can expect a north-easterly storm for the next three days. It’s already starting to blow,’ Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson said.

Sixty tonnes for two days’ fishing

Brim’s fresher trawler Helga María docked in Reykjavík Yesterday morning after a split trip. The first three days were spent fishing off the Westfjords and the catch was offloaded in Reykjavík on Thursday. Over the weekend the trawler was fishing on the Mountains. The overall catch came to 80 tonnes.

‘There’s no denying that the reduction in the golden redfish quota puts us in a difficult position in relation to fishing for other species. Now we only take redfish as by-catch and as far as I can see, that’s the way it’s going to be for the rest of this quota year,’ said Helga María’s skipper Friðleifur Einarsson.

He said that fishing on Westfjords grounds had been quiet.

‘We started on the Hali grounds and had a look around the banks as well. Unfortunately, there was no saithe in any amounts in those areas and the catch was mainly cod and redfish.’

After steaming south and landing 50 tonnes in Reykjavík they headed for the Mountain area. He said that while they have seen redfish everywhere, it was possible to catch more saithe than redfish during this part of the trip.

‘It’s very difficult to tell if you’re shooting on saithe or redfish, but we were fortunate enough to have more saithe than redfish. The autumn has long been seen as a poor time for redfish, but now we have to make every effort to avoid redfish becoming the bulk of the catch. That isn’t just on the traditional redfish grounds here off the south. The situation on the Hali grounds isn’t much better,’ he said.

Helga María’s crew now get a break while the main engine is overhauled. Friðleifur Einarsson expects this to take no more than around ten days. The other Brim fresher trawlers, Viðey, and Akurey, have all had a main engine overhaul this year and the next vessel in the engine overhaul queue will be factory trawler Vigri.

Redfish is by-catch only this year

‘We’re here by Eldeyjarboði, on the Mountain area, to be exact, and we’re hunting for saithe – like the rest of the trawler fleet. There’s saithe here, but unfortunately there’s also golden redfish and that makes all fishing a challenge,’ said Ævar Jóhannsson, skipper of Brim’s factory trawler Örfirisey when we spoke to him last Friday.

He commented that this is going to be a shorter trip than usual, as they have to dock in Reykjavík on 7th October.

‘We started the trip on the Hali grounds. There’s saithe to be seen there, but also a lot of golden redfish. We have to be extremely careful to not catch too much redfish with the saithe. When we had 20% of our redfish allocation for the trip there was nothing for it but to try elsewhere,’ he said, adding that this took them to the bank west of the Westfjords.

‘We’ve been on the Strandagrunn and Barðagrunn grounds, among other places, and there was great fishing for haddock in some areas. We aren’t fishing much for cod, but what we could take this trip was caught quickly and easily.’

According to Ævar Jóhannsson, the weather has been good during the trip, apart from last Sunday’s violent storm. The decision was taken to shelter in the lee of Stigahlíð inside the Ísafjarðardjúp for a while. Now Örfirisey is back on southern grounds and searching for saithe.

‘There’s a showing of saithe on the Mountains and it’s all about catching it and avoiding golden redfish. I’m mulling over whether to spend the last few days of the trip trying for some deep redfish in the Skerja Deeps. That’ll become clear before long,’ Ævar Jóhannsson said.

Whole fleet hunting for saithe

‘We just completed our first trip after coming off the slipway and everything worked fine. We started on the bank west of the Hali grounds, moved north to the Hali area itself and did our best to avoid golden redfish. We had 120 tonnes for this trip, of which 85 tonnes were cod,’ said Eiríkur Jónsson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey.

When we caught up with him, Akurey was in the middle of Breiðafjörður, as the previous trip’s catch had been offloaded in Grundarfjörður. From there the fish was trucked to Norðurgarður in Reykjavík.

‘We’re heading for Westfjords grounds again, but won’t take a decision on where to start until I’ve asked around to get an idea of how things look in the main fishing areas,’ he said. The previous trip had started on the banks.

‘There was reasonably steady fishing as far as cod is concerned. We shifted northwards on the Hali grounds and did out best to stay clear of golden redfish, but the fact is that there’s still a great deal of redfish there and it’s fatal for us to go anywhere near shallower grounds. We spent much of the trip towing at 220 to 260 fathoms and the shallowest we went was 160 to 180 fathoms, but despite that, we couldn’t lose the redfish. We’re rationed ten tonnes of redfish per trip and I hear the factory trawlers are allowed to catch three tonnes of redfish per day, so this is going to be a tough quota year.’

He commented that every trick in the book is used to search for saithe, without any special success. There are reports of occasional good hauls, but no steady fishing.

‘Saithe swim with the cod and of course with redfish, so it’s difficult to make any headway on saithe when we can barely touch redfish.’

Akurey spent the best part of a month on the slipway in Reykjavík. This was for a routine man engine overhaul and Eiríkur Jónsson added that the opportunity had been taken to deal with a great any smaller jobs that needed to be done.

Ten tonnes of golden redfish per trip

‘This was a fine trip. I think I’m right that we have a green weight of 800 tonnes and a catch value of ISK418 million. We mostly had saithe, plus haddock and then cod. We tried to stay clear of golden redfish, but it’s everywhere and that’s the by-catch,’ said Eythór A. Scott, skipper of factory trawler Vigri, which docked in Reykjavík last Friday after 25 days at sea.

He said that the trip started on the Mountains, where they took two hauls. The same happened in the Skerja Deeps, and the aim was to track down saithe and then wait for instructions from the company on what the trip’s catch allocation would be.

‘Once that was decided, we headed northwards to the Látragrunn grounds. The intention was to fish haddock and cod to finish up the quota year, and saithe, of course. There was haddock on the Látragrunn. We towed mainly at a depth of 50 fathoms, as in shallow depths there’s less likelihood of getting any other species with the haddock. We had a half-landing when we’d had a green weight of 500 tonnes, and then headed back out again,’ he said.

The later part of the trip took them to the Deildargrunn, Kögurgrunn and Hali grounds, and Eythór and his crew added a further 300 tonnes to the catch for the trip.

‘The main headache was avoiding golden redfish on the Hali grounds, but everything worked out. Overall we were getting between four and six tonnes in a haul, or from one to one and a half tonnes per towing hour. There was flat calm weather the whole time, and that makes that the difference,’ Eythór Scott said.

Vigri’s current trip is the last for a while as it has a spot booked on the slipway at the end of this month. The plan is to change the refrigeration agent on board, and Vigri is expected to be ready for sea in December.

Good fishing in a flat calm

‘It’s been a pretty good start. At any rate, we caught what production allocated for us. The overall catch is 120 tonnes, mostly cod,’ said Friðleifur Einarson – known as Leifur – skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Helga María, which was on its way to dock in Sauðárkrókur when we caught up with him.

This trip was spent on the lava grounds of the Kolbeinsey Ridge, and he said that to begin with, Helga María had been fishing those grounds alone.

‘It was great to be there solo to start with, and then the number of trawlers started to climb and there was quite a group there by the time we left. There’s practically clean cod there, apart from the occasional Greenland halibut that turns up in the trawl. There’s no saithe to be seen, but they are unpredictable and tend to appear from nowhere with no warning. We don’t need to worry about golden redfish there. Redfish is really putting us in a straightjacket, and the worst part of it is that the straps are being tightened all the time. The same applies to haddock. We just do our best to avoid it and any haddock we get is by-catch. In that respect, the same applies as to redfish,’ Leifur said.

He commented that this is their second landing in a row in Sauðárkrókur.

‘In many ways it’s very convenient to land in Sauðárkrókur. We are 10 to 11 hours from the fishing grounds. That means we can work a shorter trip and land more frequently. The fish is trucked south to Reykjavík, and that takes around four hours,’ Friðleifur Einarson said.

Tightening the straightjacket straps

Brim’s freezer trawler Örfirisey docked in Reykjavík this morning after two weeks at sea. This time it’s for a half-landing, so the new quota year (on 1st September) will take effect during the second part of the trip. Skipper Arnar Haukur Ævarsson is satisfied with catch rates so far, and the trip to date has seen a green catch weight of around 400 tonnes.

‘We have been on the Westfjords grounds for most of this time. Although we started off in the Skerja Deeps and had deep redfish and silver smelt there. The catch was reasonably good, and altogether we had three days there,’ he said.

From the Skerja Deeps Örfirisey headed northwards to the Látragrunn area.

‘There was very good fishing for haddock on the Látragrunn grounds, as there is elsewhere off the Westfjords. Then the weather blew hard for two days and we used the time to work our way northwards to the Hali grounds. We have often seen good fishing for saithe there at this time of year, but this time it was more of a challenge than usual. This was particularly because there’s a vast amount of golden redfish on the Hali grounds. We were in the position of trying to avoid the fish that’s most abundant while trying to catch the one that’s scarcest. Overall, we did pretty well, even though what we had was mostly redfish, with some haddock and saithe,’ Arnar Haukur Ævarsson said.

Half-landing between quota years

Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey’s fishing activity for this quota year is finished. The trawler docked in Reykjavík Monday morning and will be taken out of the water and onto the slipway when the catch has been landed.




According to skipper Eiríkur Jónsson the last trip of this quota year was a short one. This is reflected in the catch, which was around 60 tonnes.




‘There was heavy weather on the Westfjords grounds when we sailed, so we had to stick with fishing off the south coast. We started on the Mountains in the hope of fishing some saithe. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to be had. That wasn’t a surprise as we have neap tides at the moment. Saithe don’t tend to show up under these conditions,’ he said.




The next place to try was the Skerja Deeps.




‘We had some deep redfish, but the saithe catch was slim. Overall, the catch was a mix of species, and the largest volume was probably golden redfish,’ Eiríkur Jónsson said.




Akurey is now heading for the slipway for routine maintenance, and for the main engine to be overhauled.

Akurey on the slipway

‘There’s crazy weather right now and the forecast for the Westfjords doesn’t look good. It’s NNEasterly, which means there’s no shelter to be found. I’m making use of the bad weather to push northwards. Our main hopes are that we can find some cod or saithe on the Thverálshorn or Djúpkrókur grounds without any redfish getting on our way,’ said Heimir Guðbjörnsson, skipper of fresher trawler Helga María.




When we caught up with him, he had just left the Nes Deeps behind. Catch rates were around a tonne per hour of mainly cod. He said that catches had dropped considerably, as when they had been there a few days earlier, fishing had still been fairly decent.




‘We sailed from Reykjavík at midday on Wednesday and the catch for the last trip had been around 135 tonnes. Then we ended up in the Nes Deeps after having been on the Thverálshorn and Hali grounds. There was some saithe with the cod around the Thverálshorn, but on the Hali grounds we were getting far too much redfish with the saithe catches,’ he said, adding that with the quota year coming to an end, things are tight.




‘Quotas for redfish and haddock are exhausted. The situation has been mapped pretty well. Further east on the Strandagrunn some of the north coast trawlers have been getting mostly haddock and the same goes for the lava grounds in the Kolbeinsey area. We’re pinning our hopes on the Thverálshorn area and the shallow grounds to the west of the southern Westfjords. There can always be a sudden showing of fish here or there and it’s important to not be too far away,’ Heimir Guðbjörnsson said.




Helga María is due to dock in Reykjavík on Tuesday, and is expected to manage one more trip before the end of this quota year.

Redfish and haddock quotas exhausted

‘It’s obvious that there isn’t much of this quota year left. In the whole of the last trip, we saw two other trawlers and that means that quotas for particular species have been used up,’ said Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Viðey.




Viðey was alongside at the beginning of this week to discharge 150 tonnes of fish, of which 40 tonnes were saithe. The focus for the crew is now to catch as much saithe as possible – and that can be a challenge as saithe often swim with redfish or cod on the fishing grounds.




‘This time we started fishing on the Mountains, and then moved to the shallows off Patreksfjörður. We found cod and saithe there, and without any haddock to make life difficult for us. We finished up to the north on the Hali grounds and all the main species are there; cod, redfish, saithe and haddock.’




He said that he hasn’t heard any reports of fishing recently in the Víkuráll Gully, presumably because fishing there is all redfish, or because of how few fishing vessels are at sea now. When we caught up with him, Jóhannes Ellert was steaming back to fishing grounds.




‘We’re going straight back to the Hali grounds. I’m not expecting the weather to be as kind to us as it was during the last trip, as there’s some rough weather forecast but hopefully nothing too heavy,’ Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson said.




Quiet fishing grounds

‘I have to be frank. I’m nervous about the new quota year. There are large amounts of golden redfish, haddock and cod everywhere. Instead of increases, the quotas quotas are being reduced and this means we are heading for some major problems when we get into next spring,’ said Árni Gunnólfsson, skipper of Brim’s freezer trawler Vigri, which is docking tonight in Reykjavík after a trip lasting roughly a month.




‘We have a full fishroom and catch rates have been fine. We have been searching everywhere for saithe, and while that’s a challenge, around a quarter of the catch is saithe,’ he said, adding that the trip began with a search for saithe off the south-east coast.




‘There are no trawlers about there, and it didn’t take us long to find out why. There’s abundant haddock off the east coast and in fact all along the south coast. So we headed for the Westfjords to search for saithe on the Hali grounds. What we had there was mainly redfish and some haddock, but there was some saithe with it.’




The next stop was on the Mountains off Reykjanes.




‘There was plenty of fish everywhere, north and south, but the problem is that there was too little of what we were looking for. All the same, we had two days of saithe fishing on the Mountains, and apart from that, we had redfish and haddock. We finished up in the Skerja Deeps and Matthildur for deep redfish and silver smelt.’




He commented that it is remarkable to see how a stock such as haddock has grown in just a few years.




‘It’s only a few years since there was excitement ahead of the haddock box off the north coast being re-opened. You hardly see anyone fishing there now, and we avoid what used to be areas closed to conserve haddock – as well as the haddock that’s everywhere,’ Árni Gunnólfsson said.

Nervous ahead of the new quota year

‘There are huge amounts of golden redfish on the Hali grounds and that needs to be kept in mind this close to the end of the quota year. We had two unexpectedly large hauls of redfish, and that almost finished the trip for us,’ said Eiríkur Jónsson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey, which docked in Reykjavík early Yesterday morning.




He said that the trip began on the Hali grounds. The bulk of the catch was cod, with some saithe. The result of these big redfish hauls was that he decided to haul the gear and shift to the Thverálshorn area.




‘We had in fact just one tow on the Thverálshorn, and that was cod and saithe,’ he said, adding that he decided to change grounds again.




‘I decided to try the shallow grounds off Patreksfjörður. There was a great deal of large, good quality cod, but the amount of haddock increased while we were there. Exactly the same happened at this point last year. The cod are there to prey on herring, which are spawning, and the haddock arrive to feed on the eggs.’




He said that eventually the volume of haddock became too much, and there was no option but to haul and go elsewhere.




‘The trip was coming to an end, so we decided to finish up in the Skerja Deeps to try and find some deep redfish. We managed two hauls and had between 12 and 14 tonnes of deep redfish. That should be enough to fill a container,’ said Eiríkur Jónsson, adding that the overall catch for the trip was 170 tonnes. The bulk of this is cod, plus saithe, golden redfish and haddock as well as some deep redfish.

Redfish in huge amounts

Fresher trawler Helga María is in port in Reykjavík after a successful trip to Westfjords fishing grounds – although one of the steering jacks malfunctioned during the trip, which affected the autopilot. A new replacement part was sourced in Ísafjörður, but this unexpected setback put the trip back by 20 hours.




‘We went straight to the Hali grounds and started fishing there. Normally there are large, good quality redfish there at this time of the year, and this year is no exception. Apart from that, there was a good amount of saithe. The trip was going well when the steering jack failed, and there was nothing for it but to steer manually into Ísafjörður,’ said skipper Heimir Guðbjörnsson, adding that back in the day he had been more used to steering by hand.




‘Once the repair was done, we headed straight back out to the Hali Grounds. From there we worked south to the Látragrunn area. There was very good cod and a good showing of haddock there. When we were getting too much haddock, we took the option of moving northwards to the shallow bank off Patreksfjörður. We had cod there, as well as some plaice,’ he said, commenting that the green weight of fish for this trip was around 165 tonnes.




Helga María docked early on Monday and is scheduled to sail again tomorrow morning.

Fine fishing this trip

Brim’s pelagic vessel Venus is alongside in Vopnafjörður to discharge its catch. According to skipper Bergur Einarsson, this is between 1500 and 1550 tonnes, and he reports that this is larger and higher quality mackerel than the fleet has been used to seeing up to now.




‘The average weight is 440 to 460 grammes, and that’s noticeably more than we have seen at this point in the season on previous years,’ he said, adding that for the first part of the trip, fishing for mackerel was slow.




‘Then there were 36 hours of good fishing for us and Svanur. These were 100 to 130 tonne hauls after towing for five to six hours. This was all clean mackerel with no by-catch,’ he said, commenting that it is noticeable how fast the mackerel are moving northwards. During this 36-hour period, the fish moved 87 nautical miles to the north.

He said that it’s a long steam to the mackerel fishing grounds, and there are 350 nautical miles between Vopnafjörður and the position where Venus hauled for the last time.




‘Svanur and Víkingur are operating together now, and we pump all catches into one vessel’s tanks so that the fish is as fresh as possible when it is processed,’ Bergur Einarsson said.

Bigger and better mackerel than usual

‘It’s infuriating when scientists state in public documents that skippers neglect to fish for saithe. That’s not the case. I don’t know any trawler skipper who isn’t busy searching for saithe in fishable amounts,’ said Eiríkur Jónsson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey.




He was on board for the last trip, and reports that it went well, with this trip a day shorter than had been scheduled and a catch of between 160 and 170 tonnes.




‘We started at the southern end of the Víkuráll Gully. There was mixed fishing to start with, but later on only redfish. So we hauled and headed north to the Thverálshorn area. There was reasonable fishing for saithe, but the bulk of the catch was cod. The proportion of saithe must have varied between 10 and 30% from one haul to the next. It was noticeable that these were very large, good-quality saithe, while the cod were on the small side.’




On the way back southwards, Eiríkur and his crew took one haul on the Hali grounds for 10 or 11 tonnes of redfish.




‘We finished up on the shallow grounds off Patreksfjörður, on the Kögurgrunn grounds. There was heavy fishing for cod and it would have been easy to have had more,’ Eiríkur Jónsson said, adding that with around a month left of the current quota year, he expects species such as golden redfish and haddock to be a problem as these become choke species – while there should be plenty of cod and saithe quota left.

Frustrating to not find saithe

Factory trawler Örfirisey docked in Reykjavík on Tuesday this week, completing its first trip following the Seamen’s Day stopover. According to skipper Arnar Haukur Ævarsson, this was a fairly standard trip. Catches were good, production was kept active throughout and the green weight catch is estimated at 1100 tonnes.




‘We started in the Skerja Deeps and did well for deep redfish and silver smelt. There has been an unusually strong showing of deep redfish compared to previous years, plus we have had a lot of silver smelt. This is headed and wholefrozen, as we do with redfish, and there’s generally some redfish catch with silver smelt. Production is relatively straightforward, but it’s still demanding for the crew, and we had 70 tonnes going through the factory deck every 24 hours,’ he said, adding that he also spent some time looking for saithe in viable volumes on the Mountains.




‘We didn’t find any saithe, so the decision was taken to steam to Reykjavík for a half-landing on 23th June, and from there we headed for the Westfjords.’




This meant starting on the Látragrunn grounds after landing in Reykjavík.




‘There we had very good fishing for haddock and cod, and in fact there was too much cod with the haddock. So we hauled up and decided to try off the Ísafjörður Deeps. We found some fine fishing there for haddock. From there we moved to the Deild grounds. There was excellent fishing there for haddock and we had a lot of large, good-quality fish that were three kilos and over,’ he said and commented that they were still on the lookout for saithe. Unfortunately, this time the saithe failed to show up.




‘Then we steamed back south and finished the trip back on silver smelt and deep redfish in the Skerja Deeps. That worked out well,’ he said, and added that at this point in the year the quota situation for most species is getting tight. There are few vessels that have as strong quotas as Örfirisey for golden redfish, but they have to be cautious when it comes to other species.




‘Our main problem is to do with the war in Ukraine. If that hadn’t broken out, under normal circumstances we would have been starting to fish now in the Russian sector of the Barents Sea,’ Arnar Haukur Ævarsson said.

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