"TIMES have changed and we work mostly with Danish seine gear these days, " according to Icelandic netmaker Jon Holbergsson of Hafnarfjordur.

"The fleet is a lot smaller than it used to be and, especially in the shrimp and nephrops fisheries, we see fewer boats. But they tend to be larger and work larger gears."

One of a small number of independent netmakers in Iceland, the company specialises in small-scale gear, producing trawl gear as well as Danish seines, in addition to trawl gear for the Marine Research Institute.

Jon Holbergsson's designs are for the specialised plaice season seines for the Faxa Bay fishery in September that use a larger mesh size at 155 mm than regular seine gear.

The net company also has designs for both flatfish and groundfish seines for fishing cod, haddock, saithe and plaice.

"While our seines for cod and plaice don't need to have a large headline height, our haddock and saithe seines need to reach higher. So, they have deeper wings and bellies, and a side panel which helps lift the headline, " Jon Holbergsson tells FNI.

"The size of a seine depends on the size of the boat and her engine power, as well as the skipper's requirements. Co-operation with the skippers is very important and you have to be prepared to look for new ideas.

"Skippers like to work with someone who listens to what they report back and we are fortunate to have customers who are happy to work with us to develop their gear."

Although the company specialises in Danish seine gear, Jon Holbergsson does not sell seine rope.

"We supply seine and trawl gear all over Iceland, but for seine rope we point our customers towards Tben or Isfell, " he says.

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Making more Danish seines