Iceland review - 2013, Síða 65
NATURE
the Marine Research Institute of Iceland has estimated that
around 52,000 tons of herring died in Kolgrafafjörður, a small
fjord on Snæfellsnes peninsula, West Iceland, in two separate
incidents, in mid-December 2012 and early February 2013.
To put this mass death in perspective, the quota for herring in
Icelandic waters for the 2012-2013 season is only 10,000 tons
more, or 62,234 tons.
The export value of 52,000 tons of herring is ISK 6.5 billion (uSD
50.5 million), equal to the total annual cost of running the Icelandic
police, the National Museum of Iceland, Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament, and the Office of the President of
Iceland combined.
The average herring weighs 480 grams, and so 107,061,958
herring—give or take seven fish—died in the catastrophe.