Lögberg-Heimskringla - 06.09.1996, Side 7

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 6, september 1996 • 7
Jóhannes Geir Gislason on Breiðaríjord
f m ^he island farmers at Breiðar-
f fjord look upon the eider
JL birds and seals as part of their
livestock — the same as sheep and
cattle — and protect them to the best
of their ability. They eam their living
from the natural resources of land and
sea as well as animal husbandry —
and enjoy living at Bieiðafjord, one of
the country’s greatest food chests.
Spring is the busiest season for the is-
land farmers. Last summer Helgi Bjar-
nason and Ragnar Axelsson from
Morgunblaðið visited the brothers
who farm at Skáleyjar, talked to them
and watched them at work.
Skáleyjar and Flatey are now the
only islands in Breiðaljord where
people reside the year around.
The brothers Eysteinn G. and
Jóhannes G. Gíslason have lived at
Skáleyjar for the last 20 years, now
along with Sigríður Ásgrímsdóttur,
Jóhannes’ mate since 1983. Their par-
ents, Gísh E. Jóhannesson and Sigur-
borg Ólafsdóttir lived there all their
married life and before that their
grandparents lived there. Actually the
land has belonged to the family since
1820 and the roots go even deeper in
the area. The ten year interval from
the time their parents left until the
brothers took over is the only time
Eysteinn knows of when the islands
were not occupied year round, perhaps
ffom the time of settlement.
In the past when 40-50 islands were
occupied, many people lived on the is-
lands. There are two farms in Skáley-
jar as well as houses for workers, and
at the tum of the century about 50
people lived there.
The farming consisted of utilizing
natural resources as well as traditional
animal husbandry. The natural re-
sources bring in more money than the
traditional farming. The eider down
brings in the greatest amont, seaweed
harvesting (a relatively new source of
income) and animal farming follow.
There is much work with the eider
down, but little cost. On the other
hand there is considerable cost with
the animal husbandiy but it stabilizes
the year-round farming.
Eysteinn’s and Jóhannes’ parents
owned and farmed a quarter of the
land at Skáleyjar. When it was fore-
seeable that the land would be aban-
doned, the brothers bought half the
land, with the Land Fund buying the
other half, which the brothers now
rent.
Eysteinn had been away ffom home
for twenty years. He had been a
teacher in Flateyri for 15 years. The
last few of those years he assisted his
parents in Skáleyjar in summers.
Jóhannes worked with his parents
while they farmed year around, but
had been farming at Flatey for ten
years when the brothers decided to re-
tum to their parents’ homestead.
“I always had strong ties to the
place and did not feel at home any-
where else”, Eysteinn said, regarding
their decision. He said it was kind of
selfish as they could not bear the
thought of letting it become a play-
ground for people ffom Reykjavík, as
has happened with most of the
Breiðafjord islands. The brothers im-
mediately began renewing the build-
ings, enlarging the animal sheds and
building a new farm house.
Skáleyjar belongs to the inner,
West Islands. The land includes
160 islets and skerries most of
which bear their own names. The land
is pretty good, but rather difficult to
tend to. “In order to get income ffom
it, it has to be well looked alter. The
eider birds and other natural resources
need protection. A year around resi-
dency where the natural resourses are
well tended, increases its yield, mak-
ing it possible to live off. The best na-
ture preservation is the continued care
of land and resources,” said Jóhannes
Geir. The eider birds have multiplied
greatly at Skáleyjar in the last few
years and this is tme for other islands
as well where people don’t reside year
around, mainly because predators
have been managed well. “We are
useless with guns, but we hire men to
shoot the black gulls,” said Jóhannes.
The farming at Skáleyjar is similar
to the way it was done aU through this
century and further back; the same re-
sources are utilized. The brothers try
to keep alive old farming traditions
and know-how. They take care of the
resources as best they can and utilize
the harvest. In urban areas, their time
would not be considered economicaUy
well spent.
The Skáleyjar land yields the great-
est amount of eider down anywhere in
Breiðafjord. “During my parents’ and
grandparents’ time and aU through the
century people emphasized attracting
and protecting the eider birds. This is
stUl the case and they have never been
as plentiful as now,” said Eysteinn.
Eysteinn has gathered information
on the eider birds and written an infor-
mational booklet for the Icelandic
Agricultural Association on their nest-
ing habits and down gathering. In the
past, greater emphasis was put on egg
harvesting than on down gathering, as
obtaining food was of greatest impor-
tance. After the “Famine of the Mist”
there was renewed interest in building
up the country’s natural resources and
deriving income ffom them. The eider
birds themselves were hunted for
food. It took a lot of effoit to get the
birds protected. Eysteinn said that for
a while the eider birds had diminished,
probably during the extremely cold
winter in 1918. “But there were other
reasons as well. Predators increased
after the islands were abandoned and
the birds were unprotected. The South
Islands had a lot of black guUs and
then the mink arrived, destroying tlie
Continued on page 6.