Iceland review - 2013, Qupperneq 29

ICELAND REVIEW 27
Wearing a bright green jacket and a warm smile,
Katrín Sigurjónsdóttir, managing director of
Salka – Norfish Ltd., proudly presents the
headquarters of her company in Dalvík, a fishing town of 1,500
inhabitants, overlooking the placid Eyjafjörður fjord and a range
of snow-covered mountains. A contrast to sunny Africa, her com-
pany’s link to the continent is evident given the paintings and
figurines Katrín no doubt has acquired during her numerous trips
to Nigeria. “I travel to Nigeria at least once a year. The people
are so graceful and happy there,” she says. given her colorful and
cheerful appearance, Katrín seems to have taken cue from her
African customers.
Dried fish is what they’re after. Making stockfish by drying is
an ancient preservation method, mainly practiced in Iceland and
Norway. Hung outside on wooden racks, the fish was dried by
wind and sun. Stockfish has been exported from these countries
for more than 1,000 years: the Icelandic Egils saga states that
Þórólfur Kveldúlfsson, the protagonist’s uncle, exported stockfish
from Norway to England. Through the ages the diet of Icelanders
consisted mainly of dried fish. At larger farms, dried fish and butter
was rationed for farm hands at the beginning of each week, year-
round. To this day, harðfiskur, dried and beaten stockfish, remains a
popular snack in Iceland, whereas dried heads and other fish parts
are a thing of the past. However, in West Africa, these products are
considered a delicacy, which is where Salka comes in. “In house-
holds that don’t have fridges or freezers, buying dried fish means
that they don’t have to go to the market for fresh or frozen fish
every day,” Katrín explains. “The fish is soaked in water and used
to make soup or stew, including yams and other local ingredients.
Sometimes they leave the fish half-dry and pick the meat from the
bones.”
Salka was founded in 1987. The stockfish department was first an
entity within it but has since become the focus of operations. Serving
as agents, Salka’s four employees sell dried fish products from Iceland,
Norway, the Faroe Islands and Russia to Nigeria. “From there, the
fish is also distributed to other African markets,” Katrín says. Salka
exports 35 percent of the dried fish produced in Iceland. “The total
export value of dried fish from Iceland amounted to approximately
ISK 12 billion [USD 100 million] in 2012,” she adds. In Norway,
fish is commonly dried whole and sold to Italy but in Iceland mainly
parts of the fish are used. Primarily cod qualifies for drying, but also
haddock, saithe, tusk and ling. “The heads, head bones, spine, even
the gills, are classified in 30 to 40 categories,” Katrín explains. Today
97 percent of the fish is dried indoors, with factories taking advan-
tage of geothermal heat. Outside it took two to three months to dry
the fish compared to eight to nine days in a drying compartment,
resulting in a milder and more consistent flavor.
While the focus is on fish parts that would otherwise have gone
to waste, this isn’t always the case. “The market had become quite
lucrative and not just cutoffs were used for drying—fillets were also
cut up and dried. Then with the recent crisis that hit the Nigerian
market, prices had to be lowered,” Katrín states, adding that Salka
emphasizes quality and reliability. “We have an employee responsible
for quality control, who travels between producers to make sure
quality is maintained and that the products are correctly labeled
so that the customers get exactly what they order.” Shipped from
Iceland, it takes the stockfish around eight weeks to reach the sunny
shores of Nigeria, far from the icy waters where they were caught. 
Once vital to the national diet and with a history of
more than 1,000 years of export, Icelandic stockfish
has found new life in Nigeria where it’s served
with yam and a touch of sunshine.
Today, fish is rarely dried outdoors but wooden racks
can still be spotted in a few locations around the
country, here near djúpivogur in East iceland.