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ICELAND’S NATURE VS SALMON CULTURE
E U L T U R C N S A L M O V S E N A T U R E L A N D ’ S I C
Fáskrúðsfjörður salmon farm
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Today aquaculture in Iceland represents one of the most flourishing sectors in Iceland essentially concentrated in the fjords of the east and the west. In these giant Icelandic fish farms, the specie that is farmed the most is salmon. The positive economic impact of these industries has been one of the main reasons for the development of these farms. But aquaculture is not an easy activity and must be controlled and regulated to ensure proper operation and avoid any risk of disease. These infrastructures have been particularly criticized for their environmental impact.
The salmon industry in figures
The salmon in Iceland is relatively present due to good climatic conditions. On the island, there are 250 rivers, where almost 1/3 are considered salmon rivers. According to the website «Statistics Iceland», salmon production increased from 2015 until 2018, with a total of 13,448 tons of salmon in 2018. The production of salmon in aquatic cultures represents export revenues totaling ISK 30 billion in 2021. Among the different infrastructures, open-net farms represent 3⁄4 of the fish farms in Iceland. These are favored over landbased farms due to their lower cost. These farms are thus well-trained industries, with a single goal, to make a profit.
How to release from disease?
As said above, in Iceland, open-net farms are mainly present. But unfortunately, they are accompanied by a series of problems. In particular, about the spread of diseases and parasites in the waters of the fjords. Indeed, some diseases, such as sea lice, spread easily due to the ideal conditions created by these cultures. Generally, sea lice are not as easily transmitted at sea as in a confined space. In addition, open nets allow the spread of lice to other wildlife in the fjords, which can create epidemics. Until now, salmon farm companies have hidden this problem by saying that the cold temperatures of the fjords are not favorable to the development of lice. But with global warming, temperatures tend to increase and the problem becomes more and more important. Chemical solutions like pesticides will have to be used more and more. Although salmon are known to be resistant to these pesticides, other species in the fjords, unfortunately, do not survive. To defend themselves, the Arnarlax company, which has open net farms in western fjords, claims to use preventative methods against sea lice, such as using other fish species in the pens that primarily feed on sea lice. However, the North Atlantic Salmond Fund in charge of promoting sustainable fish farming will admit that this fish, often deployed in large quantities in the nets (nearly 800'000 in 2020), have as their only role to eat the lice and finish the rest of their life rotting in the nets. Fáskrúðsfjörður salmon farm
The environmental impact of these farms is not to be underestimated. The ecological problems are multiple. Starting with the risk of escape from farmed fish. Every year, thousands of salmon manage to escape from the nets. Farmed salmon, like wild salmon, are inclined to reproduce, which is a problem at the genetic level. Indeed, fish born and having lived all their life in a net, are genetically less able to survive in the wild. However, if genetically weaker salmon reproduce in large quantities, the species is guaranteed to decline. Another problem with aquaculture is the food given to these fishes. Many companies like Ice Fish Farm, which owns salmon farms, especially in the Fáskrúðsfjörður fjord, claim to be sustainable. However, to produce salmon on a farm, you need food, and that food comes directly from the fishery. This means that about one-third of the annual catch is used to produce fishmeal and fish oil to feed the farm animals.
Finally, aquaculture farms are far from being sustainable knowing that each year millions of tons of fish are captured to allow these cultures. Then, the waste produced by these farms is not filtered and is directly found in the surrounding waters compromising the well-being of other species present in the fjords. As a comparison, in 2017 the production of salmon in aquaculture in Iceland amounted to at least 10'000 tons of salmon. However, the production of 10'000 tons of salmon discharges as much wastewater as the entire city of Reykjavik. Note that since 2017, the production continues to increase in Iceland with a total of 53'000 tons of salmon produced in 2021. Moreover, Iceland is only in 4th place as the largest exporter of salmon in Europe.
Volunteers collecting tires coming from the salmon aquaculture
Solutions?
Dead fish found near the salmon farm
One of the solutions proposed by NASF is to increase production in closed land-based enclosures which would solve almost all environmental problems such as unfiltered waste, escape problems, sea lice, and pesticide problems. But as said above, these special farms have a cost. However, even in closed enclosures with reduced environmental risks, the process is not more sustainable, because the problem of intensive fishing to feed the fish is and will always be present.
Jennifer LEJOLY
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ICELANDIC LANGUAGE
Only 300 thousand people speak the Icelandic language, even though the country has approximately 370 thousand inhabitants. But what are the reasons and how did the language develop throughout the last centuries?
Until the 1000th century A.C. the Nordic countries shared the Scandinavian language. Around that time settlers came to Iceland and the language started to develop differently than in continental Scandinavia. Because of the isolated location and long distance to other countries, the influence is rare, and the language did not change much throughout the past centuries. It might be that Norwegian pronunciation influenced Icelandic speech when relations between the two countries were at their closest in the fourteenth century. On the other hand, some changes in pronunciation did not appear in the Icelandic language until 400 years later. Before the late XIV century, German loan words probably came first and largely into Icelandic by indirect routes. Moreover, Icelanders became acquainted with European gallant culture, partly through romances translated from for example French in Iceland, and some new words entered the language. The bestknown of these is the Icelandic word «kurteiss» which would be «courteous» in English. Ulfarsfell
Fáskrúðsfjörður
Furthermore, writers indicate the purity of the language used in their literature and it shall not be changed since it is pure already. Over time, a few words changed, but in the last two centuries, there has been something of a return to Old Icelandic forms in, for example, vocabulary. Conscious cultivation of the language has been, first of all, responsible for this movement. If we disregard the many neologisms of Modern Icelandic, the present-day written language is in many aspects closer to Old Icelandic than to the Icelandic found in most printed books published between 1540 and 1800. Most of the population have felt it an honor to possess a language, so they have minimal trouble understanding the literature created centuries ago. They are very proud of it and are extremely determined to preserve it as pure as possible for future generations, which means that they rather come up with new words themselves than accept foreign terms. The language of some social groups, or at least their written language, became very much intermingled with Danish, but everyday speech and the stories and poems of the people at large kept alive the greater part of the native lexicon. In addition to that, English and Danish are very popular, and many children grow up with the English language without knowing Icelandic. But due to the belief in goblins, elves, trolls, and other magic creatures the literary variety is encouraged to be kept alive.
In conclusion, we can say that the Icelandic language is declared a special phenomenon which, as a consequence of the country ’s isolation, did not change much throughout the past but is now endangered due to the first digital century. The English language is replacing Icelandic more and more. Despite this fact, Icelanders are enthusiastic about preserving their language and keeping it alive as much as possible.
Merit HAHN Marie MICHELS
