LUMPFISH - HIGH QUALITY PRODUCT
The female lumpfish (grásleppa) can be 60 cm long, but is usually 35-54 cm and is much larger than the male, called redbelly (rauðmagi), which has been measured at 50 cm here on land, but is usually 28-40 cm long.
The female fish are the main target for the fishery which utilizes the roe to make lumpfish caviar. Lumpfish are targeted close to the shore, where they come to spawn, using small fishing boats (generally less than 15 m or 49 ft) with large mesh gillnets. Traditionally, the roe would be removed at sea and the bodies disposed of. In Iceland, it is now mandatory for the bodies to be landed; these have been frozen and exported, mainly to China.
In the last years work has been done in Iceland to find new ways of utilizing the female lumpfish after the roes have been removed. The fish has been fileted and the filets used to produce warm and cold smoked products. The filets are around 23% of gutted fish without roes which gives over 900 tonnes from the total catch in Iceland. The filets have also been used to produce canned products both fresh, smoked and marinated in soya.
Work has been done towards utilization of other products of the lumpfish. Heads and skin can be used for production of marine collagen and skin has also been dried and used as pet treats.
Lumpfish
(Cyclopterus lumpus)
the only member of the genus Cyclopterus, is distributed across large areas of the north east Atlantic; from the southern tip of Greenland, across the Denmark strait and up into the Norwegian and Barents Sea. Upon maturity, they migrate to coastal areas in Iceland and Norway to spawn where the females become the target of a commercial fishery.
Many aspects of their biology are not well understood including their growth rate, age at maturity, post-spawning mortality, and reproductive cycle.