The fishing year 2004/2005 was the first recorded mackerel catch in Icelandic jurisdiction, since then the catch has increased from year to year but in the fishing year 2008/2009 a catch was set, then 100,000 tonnes of mackerel could be caught with Norwegian-Icelandic herring in Icelandic jurisdiction.
The mackerel has mainly been caught in July and August off the coast of Iceland, but in the summer of 2009 Icelandic vessels began to catch mackerel with herring in June and caught mackerel until September. For the next fishing year, 130 thousand tonnes of mackerel have been allocated.
In order to be able to process mackerel on board Icelandic fishing vessels, they must have certain equipment, first there must be a sorter that sorts the mackerel from the herring. Style classifiers have proven to be good in that respect, but it is also possible to classify the mackerel in that equipment. The traditional processing line used for processing and freezing herring needs to be changed so that the mackerel can be decapitated and gutted before it is frozen. The market is mainly for decapitated and gutted mackerel, as its shelf life is the most.
It is important to be able to classify the mackerel from the Norwegian-Icelandic herring when the species in question are caught together to create the most value from the catch, instead of sending a large part of the mackerel-mixed herring catch for smelting. Numerous experiments have been made with the classification of the species and they have been successful, whether in the processing of only one species or both at a time.