Capelin surveys this winter completed

Beautiful mountain sightings from Árni Friðriksson during the capelin search.

The research vessel Árni Friðriksson conducted capelin measurements off the northwest coast of Iceland for the past week, which have now been completed. The main objective was to investigate spawning migrations and the abundance of capelin in the area.

The survey coverage began west of Dohrnbank and followed the slope off the Westfjords all the way north to Skagagrunn (see figure below). The research vessel Þórunn Þórðardóttir also collected acoustic data that were examined for capelin during a concurrent hydrographic survey, exploring oceanographic conditions around Iceland in February. Almost no capelin was observed north of Iceland. A small amount of mature capelin was observed near the continental slope on Bardagrunn, and immature capelin were observed further off the Westfjords, near drifted sea ice. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the bulk of the capelin that was measured northwest of Iceland in January (a total of 328 thousand tonnes) has moved eastwards, clockwise around Iceland and will spawn in coastal areas in the south and west in March.

The Marine and Freshwater Research Institute does not plan any further measurements of the capelin stock this winter.

Árni Friðriksson's survey tracks in the capelin survey 11-18 February and Þórunn Þórðardóttir's survey
tracks during 3-17 February when exploring the oceanographical conditions.