Fish factories face tough times in Iceland

Iceland’s large cut in cod quotas last year may cause another fish processing plant to close down, reports FISHupdate.com.

Located in the remote area of Dalvik in northern Iceland, the plant is a significant part of the community’s livelihood. Due to operational difficulties, the Kraekir company has said that all of its 32 employees will be made redundant.

Henning Johannesson, company owner and chairman of the board, said that the price of fish, poor catch and the value of the Icelandic krona were all contributing factors to the operational difficulties. The implementation of the cod fishing quota in September pushed Kraekir over the edge, according to Johannesson.

At least three other fish factories in Iceland have been threatened with closure since the controversial slashing of the cod quota. The government is attempting to aid those affected by introducing various financial aid programmes to counter the losses, but some have criticised the amount of money as being far too little.

Svanfridur Inga Jonasdottir, the mayor of Dalvik, said many people were anxious about the future of the fish processing industry and its effect on local business. “But we are lucky to have a few other fish-processing plants, which have been here for a long time and are doing good things,” she said.