Advice on redfish is completely crazy

‘The Marine Research Institute’s advice on redfish for the next quota year is completely crazy. The scientists are recommending a 20% reduction in fishing for golden redfish next year and are telling us this is because the fishery is sustained by just two year classes. That’s just rubbish. Going by our regular samples, catches are made up of six to seven year classes, which is the way it should be,’ said Eiríkur Jónsson, skipper of Brim’s fresher trawler Akurey, which docked this morning after a short trip with 115 tonnes on board.

This will keep production supplied, considering tomorrow is a national holiday.

‘We were on the Mountains and had two days’ fishing. The catch is split more or less equally between saithe and golden redfish, and we have small amounts of other species as well. We were alone on that area to start with, but the number of trawlers there was increasing around the time we hauled to head for home,’ he said, commenting that he is left practically speechless by the advice on redfish.

‘I’ve been on trawlers since 1975 and I can be certain of what I’m saying when I tell you that there is redfish practically everywhere. It hasn’t always been like that and I recall being at a meeting with the scientists back when the golden redfish stock was at its lowest point. That was when the Institute’s chief redfish specialist, who is now the Institute’s director, told us to be prepared for thin years ahead for the redfish fishery. The reality was precisely the opposite. The redfish stock recovered rapidly and has been strong ever since. We take regular samples and according to those, we are fishing six or seven year classes. We always get older specimens, but we don’t count those in the samples,’ he said.

According to this highly experienced skipper, if the Institute’s recommendations are followed, the trawler fleet will be tied up for at least two months.

‘Over the last few years 90% of our old fishing grounds have been closed to us. A 20% reduction in golden redfish will be a death knell for many fishing companies. I can’t see that we’ll be able to fish saithe if these recommendations are followed. Just the company I work for is looking at a 1500 tonne reduction in golden redfish next year. That’s a year’s catch for one trawler. The redfish situation was bad enough already this year. Many of us have responded by increasing the codend mesh size to 155mm, on grounds such as the Hali. That means that redfish squeeze out of the trawl through the meshes. But it’s hardly possible to see that as a good way to look after the resource,’ Eiríkur Jónsson said.