ocean

(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…