Atlantica - 01.12.2006, Page 60

ICELANDa
East,” the 42-year old mayor says, careful not
to step on any toes, or make political enemies
within his Independence Party, the national politi-
cal party that has championed the smelter project.
“The East is certainly enjoying a boom. When you
have a boom like they are having, there’s going to
be a bust period, too. I see us growing in many
small steps.”
One small step is converting the former whaling
station in Flateyri into a music studio. Another is
Ísafjördur’s reliance on small entrepreneurs like
those behind Wish, a company manufacturing
top-of-the line fishing reels that cost about USD
600 a pop. The specialty reels are good enough
for former US presidents such as George HW
Bush, who accepted one last summer while fishing
for salmon on Iceland’s east coast. (The King of
Sweden owns one, too.)
The town also started an extension university
housed in a former fish factory in 1998. So far,
nine students have earned nursing degrees study-
ing via video conferencing. This figure might
sound small, but that’s nine less students moving
away, and nine more residents living and working
and spending in the local economy.
Rather than putting all the eggs in one basket,
“we’re making many baskets,” Halldórsson says.
But how much profit can a creative entrepre-
neur like Elli really make in Sudureyri, a town so
small all the locals turn their heads when a car
On this page: An old house used to hang the cod out to
dry. The West Fjords is famous for it’s dried cod
where the air, supposedly, is just a snap
dryer than in the rest of Iceland.
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