Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.08.2017, Blaðsíða 13

to consider nature,” Snorri says. “That's
simple. We need to look into what ef-
fect this business, like any other busi-
ness, has on nature. We can't ruin the
future where the environment is con-
cerned. I believe that Icelanders in the
Westfjords themselves are aware that
we can't go too far. They care about
their region and their land, and they
want to be able to continue living in the
Westfjords. They look at aquaculture as
an opportunity, and I believe that they
can benefit from it without damaging
the environment."
Iceland does have a law on aquacul-
ture, which entrusts the Environment
Agency of Iceland, the Marine Research
Institute and the Food and Veterinary
Authority with the task of assessing the
environmental impacts of aquaculture.
However, remember that aquaculture
is still relatively new to the country.
These institutions might have trouble
assessing what to look out for, and it’s
with this and many other points that
Jón Kaldal, a journalist who has been
openly critical of the burgeoning enter-
prise, takes issue.
Risk management
“The main issue isn't the farming it-
self, but how it's done,” says Jón. “And
we have examples from history, from
countries like Norway and Chile, that
reveal that fish farming can in fact be
very dangerous for nature. It's a pollut-
ing industry. It can be very dangerous
in particular for the local fish stocks."
Statistically speaking, for every
tonne of farmed fish, one is likely to
escape. 130,000 tonnes to be farmed
in Iceland could mean 130,000 escaped
fish. The total wild stock of Icelandic
salmon is 35-40,000, and each river has
a localised supply. While Norway has
banned so-called “open pens” for aqua-
culture, these are precisely the types of
pens that the developers of aquaculture
in Iceland intend to use.
"That's why these [open pen] pro-
ducers have turned their attention to
Iceland,” Jón points out. “They see an
opportunity to make fast money here
in an environment that's less strict
than what they have to deal with back
home. They want to do it in sea pens
instead of closed circuit pens because
it's cheaper. It is half the cost to build
and maintain closed circuit pens, and
the technology is maybe not completely
mature yet."
Jón points out another area that is
threatened by aquaculture: pole and
fly fishing on rivers around the coun-
try—permission for which people pay
large sums. This activity is arguably
one of the oldest draws for tourism in
Iceland, and is a significant source of
income for some 1,500 local people and
their families.
“If farmed fish starts to show up in
rivers, the interest of fly fishers goes
away,” Jón emphasizes. “The main ar-
gument for allowing large scale fish
farming is that local people need work.
But at the same time, people who al-
ready have a substantial income in the
countryside are in danger if others
start farming fish at such a scale. It's
something that's not really being dis-
cussed at all, but it has to be considered
as part of the equation."
More money,
more problems
Furthermore, Jón doesn’t see the eco-
nomic necessity of aquaculture for the
country.
"We're not fighting unemployment
in Iceland right now,” he says. “We're
in good shape. There's nothing that's
really demanding that we take chances
with nature. Especially considering
how other people are surviving in the
Icelandic countryside. The lobbyists
who are trying to get more fish farming
going in Iceland can't use job creation
as the main argument. Their argument
is that if you're against fish farming,
you're against people in smaller towns
having the right to survive. That's bla-
tant propaganda. Where jobs are need-
ed, the farming industry simply has to
use the best available methods, mean-
ing no open sea pens."
This, ultimately, is the choice that
needs to be made: greater income with
increased risk, as would be the case
with more aquaculture; or less risk and
a continuation of the status quo that
the fishing industry in Iceland has seen
for generations.
"To me it's very simple,” Jón says.
“You should not gamble with nature,
wildlife, and other people's survival."
13 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2017
Jón Kaldal
"To me it's very simple,”
Jón says. “You should
not gamble with nature,
wildlife, and other people's
survival."
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