The behavior of capelin is still considered to be strange, even though parts of the fish stock has now migrated to its usual grounds off Southeast Iceland. The fish can also be found in large quantities off North Iceland. It lingered there for a longer time than usual this season.
Sveinn Sveinbjörnsson, ichthyologist at the Icelandic Marine Research Institute, told RÚV that the development has been happening gradually in the past years and that there are no other explanations for the capelin’s unusual behavior than rising ocean temperatures.
The crew of fishing vessels from South and East Iceland are reporting a good season; Iceland Review editor and photographer Páll Stefánsson caught the above picture of Bjarni Ólafsson from Neskaupstaður, filled with capelin ready for processing at the local Síldarvinnslan, earlier today.
The fish is exported frozen to Japan. Icelandic vessels have now caught 119,000 tons of the 390,000-ton capelin quota.
