Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.11.2015, Qupperneq 5

Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. nóvember 2015 • 5
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The IcelandIc naTIonal league of norTh amerIca
ouldn’t your a a and afi be proud?
Stefan Jonasson
Declaring “this part of the world is like Iceland; it is like coming home,”
Dr. Grímur Valdimarsson, a
leading expert on fisheries,
held his audience spellbound
during a presentation on
fisheries and aquaculture in
Iceland, which was held in
the Icelandic Reading Room
at the University of Manitoba
on Thursday, October 8. A
former Director of the Fish
Products and Industry Division
of the United Nations Fish and
Agriculture Organization and
currently a senior advisor to
Iceland’s Minister of Fisheries
and Agriculture, Grímur is
touring Icelandic communities
in Canada and the United
States under the International
Visits Program of the Icelandic
National League of North
America. He is accompanied
by his wife, Kristín Jónsdóttir,
a biologist, and they have
three children and eight
grandchildren.
Grímur opened his
presentation with a picture of
his grandfather – a fisherman
on an open boat. He was also
an accomplished silversmith,
who specialized in making
hooks, which were still made
by hand in those days. His
grandfather died when Grímur
was 20, but not before having
impressed upon his grandson
an understanding of how things
had been in the old fishing
economy.
Grímur was born on the
street that is now home to
Ásmundarsafn, the Reykjavík
Art Museum, long before the
surrounding area was fully
developed. He remembers
wearing imported rubber boots
from Czechoslovakia, which
were necessary in the muddy
surroundings before the streets
were paved.
Hunters of the sea
As Grímur was starting
university to study biology,
there was a classic crash of the
herring fishery in 1968, which
was to have an impact on his
future career. Reflecting upon
Icelanders’ drive to harvest the
sea, Grímur invoked the story
of Hrafna-Flóki (Raven Flóki),
who left Norway for Iceland,
where Landnámabók (The
Book of Settlements) records
that he found “the fjord was
teeming with fish, and they got
so caught up with the fishing
they forgot to make hay, so
their livestock starved to death
the following winter.” Grímur’s
thinking about the passion for
fishing has also been influenced
by Stefán Jónsson’s memoir,
Lífsgleði á tréfæti með byssun
og stöng, which argued that
humankind is programmed to
hunt. It is human nature to hunt
and it might fairly be called a
“hunting instinct.” But modern
society does not allow us to
indulge in this instinct to hunt.
Besides, said Grímur, “the
hunting gene is expressed by
some people, but not all.”
Grímur believes that,
“world fisheries are the last
big wild prey still available in
the modern world.” Despite
this, the recent increase in
fish production comes almost
exclusively from aquaculture,
which is now responsible for 50
percent of the fish eaten in the
world and which will soon grow
to account for 60 to 70 percent.
Compared to the global
picture, Iceland’s fisheries still
rely overwhelmingly on wild
fish rather an aquaculture.
The Icelandic fishing industry
catches 1.3 million tonnes of
wild fish per year, while the
country’s aquaculture only
accounts for 6,900 tonnes.
Icelanders are hunters rather
than farmers when it comes to
fishing.
Overfishing and its solutions
The 1970s, when Grímur
started working in the field,
were “the glorious days: the
more the better.” Icelanders
overfished within their
Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) and the Ministry of
Fisheries helped to buy one
new trawler for every fjord.
Iceland’s EEZ (originally
known simply as a fishing
limit), which was only three
nautical miles offshore in 1901,
was increased to four miles
in 1952, 12 miles in 1958, 50
miles in 1972, and 200 miles
in 1976, where it still stands
today. Ninety percent of the
world’s fish catch comes from
within countries’ EEZs.
The so-called “Black
Report” of 1975 revealed
serious overfishing. The
government of the day
introduced input controls,
which “we now know it doesn’t
work,” according to Grímur,
because “fishermen always find
way to catch more.” Between
1979 and 1983, the problem
grew. Then, in 1984, Individual
Transferable Quotas (ITQs)
were introduced to regulate
fisheries. The transfers created
a market in ITQs and, unlike
input controls, served to better
regulate the catch and prevent
overfishing. Between 1984
and 2013, the gap between the
advice given by experts, the
quota decision of the fisheries
minister, and the actual
landings of catch has narrowed
so that the three components
are essentially in harmony.
Today, Iceland’s fishing
industry accounts for 1.7
billion Euros, which brings in
26.5 percent of the country’s
foreign currency, compared
to 26.8 percent from tourism
and 21 percent from aluminum
production. Yet only 5.3 percent
of the workforce is employed
in fishing and fish processing.
The Icelandic fishing industry
is extremely productive and
valuable. In the modern fishing
fleet, a two- or three-person
crew can catch 10 tonnes a day.
There are a number
of reasons to explain why
aquaculture is not a bigger part
of the Icelandic fishery. For
starters, the water is too cold.
There have also been many
bankruptcies among companies
that have ventured into the
field. Norwegian salmon have
not done well as an aquaculture
species; however, Arctic char
has fared much better. A new
company is trying to raise
Senegal sole, a warm-water
fish, in a hi-tech operation that
utilizes geothermal resources
on Reykjanes. This farm’s
2,000-tonne capacity will
soon be reached. Aquaculture
sea cages are limited in just
two areas of the country –
of the western side of the
Westfjords and along the east
coast. Otherwise the marine
wilderness is protected.
Efficiency and sustainability
The efficiency of Iceland’s
fishery has been further
enhanced by computerized
processing, or “automatic
intelligent fish processing,”
which includes laser
measurement. Grímur showed
pictures of cutting fish by water
jet, following the principle of
“weighing before cutting,”
a computerized process that
produces exact portions. This
has created added value for
the catch, by contributing to
the full utilization of the raw
resource. “If you have a quota,”
says Grímur, “you must be able
to make the greatest value out
of it as you possibly can.”
Even as “oil use has been
going down,” reports Grímur,
“the value of the fish exports
has been going up,” owing to
improved efficiency. Every
last bit of a fish is now used,
including fish bones which are
used by artists. Fish heads are
dried and exported, especially
to Nigeria. And this efficiency
is good not only for profits, but
for the environment.
... continued on page 10
GOVERNMENT OF ICELAND
SCHOLARSHIP
North American students studying language and literature and students doing
Nordic Studies at a Canadian University are invited to
apply for a Scholarship to study Icelandic as a second language at the
University of Iceland in Reykjavík for the 2016 - 2017 term.
Scholarship covers registration fees at the University and a monthy stipend of ISK 130,000
(approx. $1000 CDN/mo.) Sept/16 - April/17. A dorm room will be available for rent.
Deadline for submissions of all application material is
November 16, 2015
Application forms & further information available on the INL website
www.inlofna.org
Under scholarships – Iceland, Ministry of Education
INLNA OFFICE:
Gwen Grattan, Executive Secretary
ICELANDIC NATIONAL LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA
#103 - 94 1st Ave, Gimli, MB, Canada R0C 1B1
Phone: 204-642-5897
Email: inl@mymts.net
Icelandic fisheries and the hunting instinct
PHOTO: KAREN BOTTING
Dr. Grímur Valdimarsson at the University of Manitoba