It´s certainly been an eventful time since the last news update! The main news was the EU´s tough stance against the Norwegian mackerel fishermen and their expulsion from EU waters at the beginning of October. There´s almost 70,000mt remaining on the Norwegian mackerel quota, but the main fishing area is close to Shetland, both on the east & west sides.

We´ve received good landings of mackerel averaging 400-450gms from Scottish & Irish vessels this month. Quality has been excellent, as would be expected from our regular suppliers.

There was an unusually small amount of fish below 300gms, meaning we produced virtually no 200-400gms. We compensated for this by producing a smaller than usual 300-500gms on some days.

Demand from Eastern Europe and the Far East has mainly been for 400-600gms but the size of fish landed has meant large quantities of 300-500gms have been produced by all the packers. Combination sales of 300-500gms & 400-600gms are now the norm.

We also had some landings of horse mackerel from Norwegian vessels when there was no mackerel available due to bad weather.

Shetland Catch played host to 2 classes of Primary 4 school children from Bells Brae School this month. They were visiting us as part of a school project into Shetland history and the fishing industry. During their tour the children saw around the offices, factory & went on board the fishing vessels. Hopefully some will become our workers of the future!!

John Angus.
27^th October 2009.