Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.11.2015, Blaðsíða 10

10 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • November 1 2015
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Do you know these people?PHOTO MYSTERY
L-H features this series of photographic mysteries in
conjunction with Nelson Gerrard’s Silent Flashes project, which
explores early photography among Icelandic immigrants and
their descendants in North America.
Any successful solutions will be published.
To obtain further inform-ation on the Silent Flashes project
or to provide input, contact Nelson Gerrard at (204) 378-2758 or
eyrarbakki@hotmail.com, or by mail at Box 925, Arborg, MB
R0C 0A0.
Check out the Silent Flashes website and photo archive at
www.sagapublications.com.
This early portrait from the Parkin Studio in Winnipeg
was taken about 1885-1888. The original photo is in the
archive at Blönduós in Northern Iceland, indicating a
connection with the Húnavatnssýsla region.
The photo in October 1 issue of L-H has been identified by Shirley
Sigurdson. Thank you Shirley.
“The photo is of my
grandmother’s younger sister
and her husband. They are:
Stefania Andresdottir Skagfeld
and Fridfinnur Fridfinnson.
Stefania was the third child
of Andres Jonsson Skagfeld,
born at Solheimar in Geysir, MB,
which Andres had homesteaded.
The Skagfeld family lived and
farmed in several Manitoba and
Interlake areas before settling in
Oak Point.
Fred was Fridfinnur
Fridfinnson. He was the son of
a well-known composer and
musician, Jon Fridfinnson. Fred
was also a good pianist. He and
Steffa were married in Winnipeg
in 1911. They lived there for a
few years, then moved to the
western Interlake area, to farm
for a time, then moved to Oak
Point. Fred fished there in the
winter and worked in Winnipeg
at his trade of tin smithing for
the rest of the year. They moved
to Winnipeg in 1928 with
their family, ultimately seven
children.
I remember visiting their
home on Garfield Street and
Fred playing the piano and
everybody singing. The home
exuded warmth and hospitality.
I have identified this
photo before, I think three or
four years ago.”
Shirley Sigurdson
(nee Thorsteinson)
Edmonton AB
Name
Address
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The Heart of Iceland
Name
Address
City/Town Prov/State
Post/ZIP Code Tel:

CONTACT THE INL OF NA OFFICE
103-94 First Avenue, Gimli, MB R0C 1B1 • 204-642-5897 • inl@mymts.net
(or the INL Chapter/Society nearest to you)
OR, within North America, clip and mail this order form. Send to:
Lögberg-Heimskringla, 100-283 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2B5 Canada
Yes, I’d like to order _______ (qty) of the 2016 The Heart of Iceland INL Calendar from L-H.
Please send to:
I enclose $12.00 plus $3.00 CDN / $3.00 USD / $8.00 INT shipping for each.
Make cheques payable to: Lögberg-Heimskringla, Inc.
2016 INL of NA Calendar now available
ONLY
$12
PLUS SHIPPING
The Heart of Iceland
“Fisheries are the last source of wild food,”
observed Grímur, “so environmentalism comes
into the picture.” Reminding listeners of the
importance of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring,
which he sees as marking the beginning of the
modern environmental movement, Grímur
observed that “overfishing became rampant
around the world.” By 1996, it was apparent
that governments had failed to manage fisheries
effectively. Eco-labeling of fish, rating their
sustainability, has helped but the lack of universal
application has limited this strategy.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture
Organization’s (FAO) Fisheries and Aquaculture
Department, headquartered in Rome, convened
meetings to try to stem the tide of overfishing.
At a 2001 conference in Reykjavík, the FAO
adopted an ecosystem approach to managing
the world’s fisheries. According to the FAO,
“An ecosystem approach to fisheries strives to
balance diverse societal objectives, by taking
into account the knowledge and uncertainties
about biotic, abiotic and human components of
ecosystems and their interactions and applying
an integrated approach to fisheries within
ecologically meaningful boundaries.” This was
followed by the so-called “Promise of Rio” in
2002, which essentially said, “if you harvest
your fish populations sustainably, you are o.k.”
Romanticism and science in conflict
“Why did fisheries management fail?”
asked Grímur? “Fishermen resisted their
systems. Governments tried to manage through
regulations; they did not involve the industry
in the process.” Between “the hunting instinct”
and the romanticism of fishing, such as that
expressed by Ernest Hemingway in his book,
The Old Man and the Sea, there are always
powerful forces at work to undermine the
management of wild resources.
Nowhere is the impact of romanticism greater
on marine management than when it comes to
marine mammals. Without saying whether he was
for or against whaling, Grímur declared that “the
whaling politics around the world are not about
whales at all.” In fact, the Promise of Rio has
largely been forgotten when it comes to whaling.
As a case in point, he highlighted the recent public
conflict between Icelandic fisheries minister
Sigurður Ingi Jóhannesson and U.S. president
Barack Obama on the subject of fin whales.
Grímur stated that there are about 20,000
fin whales in Icelandic waters out of a total
population of 50,000 across the north, so the
Icelandic harvest of 154 whales is sustainable,
whether or not people agree with it. Although the
southern population of fin whales is threatened,
the northern population is not – and these two
populations are not intertwined. “Science is being
put aside for a political purpose,” said Grímur
and President Obama’s characterization of the
Icelandic whale harvest as the unsustainable
harvest of a threatened species is wrong on both
counts. He went on to suggest that whale meat is
“probably the most ecofriendly red meat on the
planet.”
This raises the question of whether the
opposition to Iceland’s whale harvest is grounded in
scientific evidence or a manifestation of the extreme
environmentalism that Rögnvaldur Hannesson
criticized in his book Ecofundamentalism.
Noting that “fundamentalisms of all kinds reject
science,” Grímur urged his listeners to “embrace
an evidence-based approach” to fisheries
management, recognizing that food choices are
a matter of personal taste and cultural norms.
If the Promise of Rio is that countries which
harvest sea products sustainably should be
left alone to manage their maritime resources,
then it’s important to follow the science
and leave the choices to individuals and
their governments. “If we can’t stick to the
principles we laid down internationally,” he
said, “we will have lawlessness.”
Another photo mystery solved
Dr. Grímur Valdimarsson
continued from page 5