Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1987, Qupperneq 32

HEIMILDIR
Anonymus 1983. Informal meeting of the
Special Study Group of the North At-
lantic Salmon Working Group. (Óbirt
skýrsla) Aberdeen: 6 bls.
Dietrich, G. 1969. Atlas af the hydrography
of the northern North Atlantic Ocean. -
Conseil International pour L’Explora-
tion de la Mer, Service Hydro-
graphique, Charlottenlend Slot, Dane-
mark: 140 bls.
Gísli Ólafsson. 1984. Laxveiðar í Noregs-
hafi. - Ægir 77: 72-74.
Mills, D. & N. Smart. 1982. Report on a vis-
it to the Faroes. - Atlantic Salmon
Trust, Surrey. 52 bls.
SUMMARY
A trip on a Faro-
ese salmon fishing boat in the
Norwegian Sea in 1982.
by
Gísli Ólafsson
Marine Research Institute,
P.O. Box 1390,
Skúlagata 4,
Reykjavík, Iceland
A total of 2958 salmon were caught
during the 18 days of fishing. Of these
237 were less than 60 cm (discarded) and
53 slipped off the hook by the side of the
boat. The total number of salmon landed
was thus 2668 (Table 2). The average
length of 106 salmon which were mea-
sured was 78 cm or 4 kg and thus the
catch landed from the cruise was about
10.7 tons.
The majority of the salmon caught
ranged between 61-80 cm (Fig. 7), main-
ly fish which have been in the ocean for 2
years. The males were found to be larger
than the females of the same age (Fig. 8).
The females, however, were, more nu-
merous than the males (71.4% and
28.6% of the catch respectively). Not all
the salmon were found to be of the same
maturity stage and apparently 3 of the
females had just spawned (Stage 7-2 on-
Fig. 9). Possibly these salmon had not
found the way to their homegrounds and
therefore spawned in the open ocean. It
is pointed out that certainly this
phenomenon is worth greater attention.
A preliminary examination of the
stomach contents showed Myctophidae,
Euphausiacea and Paralepididae to be
the most important constituents.
In 1981 the ICES Anadromous and
Catadromous Fish Committee decided
to send observers from several countries
on board Faroese salmon fishing boats.
The paper reports on one such mission
undertaken by an Icelander on the salm-
on long-line boat Hamrafossur.
The fishing area was north-northeast
of the Faroe Islands (Fig. 1). A brief de-
scription is given of the long line used for
the fishing (Fig. 2, Table 1) and how it is
set and hauled (Fig. 3). The handling of
the fish on board the ship is also de-
scribed and a preliminary analysis of the
data gathered is presented.
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