Iceland review - 2015, Qupperneq 45

ICELAND REVIEW 43
When we see the boats com-
ing in, we start itching to get
started,” says Anna Sigríður
Jörundsdóttir. She indicates a boat sailing
into the harbor, contrasting the blue waves
and snowy landscape. True Westfjords’ cod
liver oil plant in Bolungarvík has a splendid
view of the local harbor, mountain Óshyrna
on the other side of Bolungarvík bay, the
mighty fjord Ísafjarðardjúp and Grænahlíð
of the uninhabited Hornstrandir region
in the distance. “The fishing grounds are
just there,” her associate Olgeir Olgeirsson
points out. “We were showing a prospective
buyer from Hong Kong around when all of a sudden a humpback
whale started jumping out of the ocean, again and again.” The
outer Ísafjarðardjúp is where local fishermen find their catch.
So plentiful is the resource that 950-person Bolungarvík boasts
many of the highest-catching small boats in the country, accord-
ing to fisheries website Aflafréttir. Fishing contributes to the
municipality being among those with the highest average income
in Iceland. The town was built on fishing. “It’s the oldest fishing
port in the country,” states Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, who runs True
Westfjords with Anna and Birgitta Baldursdóttir.
PET PROJECT
When I meet up with Anna and Sigrún and their associates
Olgeir and Baldur Árnason in Bolungarvík in mid-February, True
Westfjords is about to launch production of extra virgin cod liver
oil, branded Dropi (‘Drop’), set to hit the market in late March
or early April. The oil is extracted from the liver with a modern-
ized version of an ancient method, avoiding high temperatures to
preserve the natural fatty acids, including Omega 3, and Vitamins
A and D. “Farmers—who were also fishermen—used to put the
liver in a box or a hole outside their house. Gradually it began
breaking down and releasing its oil,” explains Birgitta when I
talk with her in Reykjavík the following week. She travels to
Bolungarvík when necessary but is otherwise based in the capital.
Her husband comes from the West Fjords and they used to live
in Ísafjörður, a neighboring town of Bolungarvík and the region’s
capital. “My father-in-law, who was born in 1930 and lived on the
other side of Ísafjarðardjúp, remembers how his grandfather used
to scoop up fish liver oil and bottle it. Out at sea, the fishermen
used to drink one or two cups of the oil—I’m not sure what he
means by ‘cups,’ probably just shots—which they believed made
them resistant to the cold, prevented them from falling ill and
gave them incredible strength.”
The tradition of consuming fish liver oil for its health benefits
remains strong in Iceland; health authorities recommend it to
counteract Vitamin D shortage—from which people in the far
INNOVATION
The view from the window of True Westfjords’ plant:
Bolungarvík harbor and mountain Óshyrna.