Elias fishes everyday in the waters where he lost his family. When he told me about it, I could hardly believe my ears. You’ll get a link to the story we’ve produced about him by subscribing to our quarterly newsletter – now out! You’ll also learn about the Eskimo Ninja, wolverines, and even get a…
Small boats come and go all day and night from the harbour in Ilulissat. Fishermen often head out on their own, sometimes to set the lines, sometimes to pull them in. Any given morning there will be a couple of dozen men sitting at the dock and baiting their hooks, 500 at a time. It…
In this instalment, Arctic Deeply gives you a look into an Icelandic town vying for its place in the global market, not with tourism but with transport. Siggeir Stefánsson introduces us to Þórshöfn, his small Icelandic fishing town which he hopes to diversify in order to keep afloat. “If you live in Reykjavik, you can choose from 100 kinds of…
(Post 1 of 3) Mission control at the Ísfélag fish processing plant in Þorshöfn, Iceland. The plant runs 24 hours a day during the fall to keep up with the mackerel and herring pouring in. We are here to meet this man, first to learn about his day job and then to witness his dreams…
(Post 2 of 3) We’ve donned robes, caps, and new shoes (that’s them, bottom right), and we’ve survived the hand washer and boot scrubber to experience the cold, wet, and clean world of the processing plant. I didn’t know that mackerel were so beautiful. Siggeir shows us the flesh and explains how the high quality…
(Post 3 of 3) Every box is full of fish. They come in off the trawlers, fresh from the sea, and they leave by ship too, boxed for market. 15,000-20,000 tonnes of fish per year roll through this warehouse: capelin, cod, pollock, mackerel, herring, lumpfish. Frozen in a world-class, carefully calibrated computer and off to…
(Post 1 of 3) We’ve made it to Þorshöfn in Iceland’s northeast corner, and we’ve left the tourist shops behind. This community survives on fish, and the first step is to take them out of the sea. Elsewhere, we’ve seen men hand-baiting their long lines, but not here. The Sigurður was brand new in July…
(Post 2 of 3) Petur Andersen is first mate of the Sigurður, and this is where he sits. The bridge of this trawler looks like the Starship Enterprise. “I went to sea at 17, and now I’m 43. I have never done anything else.” The crew spends about a week at a time out in…
(Post 3 of 3) Þorbjórn Víglundssen commandeers my notebook and pen to teach me exactly how a trawler works. It requires diagrams. The net behind him is a 500 metre long tube. Thick cables extend it behind the ship, and large steel “trawl doors” keep its mouth open. Crew members control its depth from the…
(Post 1 of 2) “There were cute boys on the ships who came in with the herring.” That’s part of what made being a herring girl in Siglufjörður, Iceland so much fun. Even though these women sometimes worked 24 hours straight, they assured me those summers were the best of their lives. Two of the…