My name is Ragnar Groth Mortensen, and I am 36 years old. I was raised in Ørðavík, but now I live in Tvøroyri where my boat is harboured and the baiting shed is near at hand. I have been a fisherman all my life. My father became a fisherman in the late seventies and, in the late nineties, when I was a child, I was allowed to join him to go out fishing. As I grew older, I was allowed to drive the boat myself, and I was both taken and excited to be hunting and to make it a successful fishing trip. I have a certificate as a shipmaster, and I have sailed with larger ships as a shipmaster and first officer, both in the Faroe Islands and in Norway. I am a small-boat fisherman full-time, but now and again, when the fishery has been less successful in these waters, I have been compelled to go to sea with larger fishing vessels.
To go fishing in a small boat is a dying industry, as it is an ever-changing work that does not fit any calendar. It is of vital importance to me that the small-boat industry and knowledge gets preserved because there are not many people who want or dare to go small-boat fishing. There is no education for small-boat fishing, and it takes a lot of trial and error to succeed as a small-boat fisherman. I have been small-boat fishing since I was seven years old, and I am still learning. That is also why it is so sad that many seasoned small-boat fishermen go to their grave without having had someone younger along to whom they can pass on their knowledge. These men have themselves been given passed down knowledge from their fathers and grandfathers.
Fishermen do not have a workday from 7 am to 7 pm.
First we put bait on the lines that are to be used in the fishery. Sometimes I do the baiting myself, but usually I get help from pensioners and schoolboys. For bait we use cuttlefish, mackerel, trumpet snail, saury, depending on where and what we have caught, and weather conditions. The lines will be kept in a freezing room until they are needed. They will be taken out for thawing before they are to be used.
When the weather is favourable, and the current is not too strong, I will go out fishing. Usually I am alone on the boat, but I call for help when there is excellent fishing. At what time I put to sea depends on the fishing grounds and what species of fish I am going for. I go fishing at the turn of the tide or at daybreak; but if the weather conditions do not allow it, I will postpone the fishing until the weather allows it.
When I arrive at the fishing grounds, and if the currents are right, the lines will be cast. It takes between twenty minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the number of lines and the distance between the snoods, to cast the lines. I wait at least one and a half hours to haul it up again. That is to make sure that the lines have been fishing for a while. When everything is hauled up, and all of the fish has been gutted and put on ice, I will shape a course for home where the fish will be landed and sold to the best bidder. The fishing trip will normally last about twelve to sixteen hours.
From August to February, I fish for cod and haddock. It varies a lot what we do from February to August. It all depends on weather conditions, fishery and sales prices. During the spring we use computerized jigging reel for cod, and when the spawning is done, I go fishing with a line for halibut, or use the jigging reel for mature coalfish, or go longlining for ling or cusk.
