Other species

Rainbow trout                         Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg Brown trout                                       Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg Spotted catfish                                Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg Haddock                                             Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg

Seabass                                            Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg Eel                                                         Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg Tilapia                                                  Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg Giant river prawn                              Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg Red abalone                                       Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus gairdneri)

Rainbow trout was first imported to Iceland in 1951 and has been reared since that time. This represents the first commercial rearing of fish in Iceland to market size. Rainbow trout has been reared in land-based farms and in sea cages with a maximum production of 500 tonnes in 1997. Today production is only a few tonnes. However, rainbow trout is an important species in put-and-take fishery in Iceland. It is forecast that production will increase up to few houndred tonnes in the year 2010.

Brown trout (Salmo trutta)

Today brown trout is farmed for enhancement programs in rivers and lakes. There are currently no companies in Iceland that cultivate brown trout to market size. Maximum slaughtered volume was about 40 tonnes in 1989. 

 

Spotted catfish (Anarhichas minor)

Spotted catfish is a coldwater species exhibiting high growth rates at a temperature optimum between 4-10°C. From the year 2001 to 2008 feasibility studies have been performed by the company Hlyri in order to elucidate possible farming opportunities of spotted catfish. Today there are currently no companies in Iceland that cultivate spotted wolffish.

 

 

 

Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus)

Haddock is caught all around Iceland and throughout the year. In 2001, Brim started experiments with on-growing wild haddock in sea cages in Eyjafjörður, north coast of Iceland. A few other experiments have been conducted, although not on a continuous basis.   Maximum slaughtered volume occurred in 2003, about 65 tonnes.    

 

Sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

Sea bass eggs and larvae were imported to Iceland yearly 1994-2001. There are currently no companies in Iceland that cultivate sea bass. Maximum production occurred 2003, about 75 tonnes. The culture of sea bass was conducted in a recirculation system at a land-based farm using geothermal water to reach optimal growth temperature.   

 

European eel (Anguilla anguilla)

The European eel is a native species in Iceland. Part of the eel population in Iceland consists of hybrids between European eel and American eel (Anguilla rostrata). In Iceland small-scale experiments have been conducted with the on-growing of glass eels (elvers) and yellow eels (pigmented eels).

 

 

 

Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Tilapia was imported in the year 2008 from Canada. Feasibility studies are to be performed in order to elucidate possible farming opportunities of tilapia in Iceland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii)

Giant river prawn was imported from New Zealand in 2003. Feasibility studies have been performed in order to elucidate possible farming opportunities of giant river prawn in Iceland. Experimental larval production and on-growing in ponds has been carried out using geothermal water to reach optimal temperature for growth. There are currently no companies in Iceland that cultivate giant river prawn.

 

 

 

 

Red abalone (Haliotis rufescens)

Red abalone was imported 1988 from USA and again 1996 from Japan. There are currently no companies in Iceland that cultivate red abalone. Maximum production occurred in 2003, about 35 tonnes. The culture of red abalone was carried out in a land-based farm using geothermal water to reach optimal temperature for growth.

Other species

Several experiments have been conducted with other species, such as, Atlantic catfish (Anarhichas lupus), green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) and Japanese abalone, Ezo awabi (Haliotus discus hannai).

Valdimar Ingi Gunnarsson