Fishing grounds

Iceland's exclusive fisheries zone has an area of 760,000 square kilometers, seven times the area of Iceland itself. Some of the largest fish stocks in the North Atlantic are found in Icelandic waters, including the cod stock, which is Iceland's most important stock, and the capelin stock, which is generally the largest in size. Other large stocks migrate in and out of Icelandic waters, including the Atlanto-Scandian herring stock and blue whiting, while still others are mostly close to the 200-mile limit, such as the oceanic redfish stock.

The following map shows Iceland's 200-mile fishing zone and ocean depth in varying shades of blue colour. Nearest to land, the depth is less than 200 metres. The next shade of light blue extending along the Reykjanes ridge southwest from Iceland indicates depths of 200-1,000 metres. In many areas the continental shelf extends to a depth of 400 metres, but beyond that depth increases steeply. The mid-blue colour shown for most of the 200-mile zone indicates depths of 1,000-2,000 metres while the darker blue, mostly off south Iceland, indicates depths of 2,000-3,000 metres.

Looking at Iceland's northerly position on the map, one would expect the ocean around it to be icy cold, so that very little production of phytoplankton could take place to become the basis for the food chain. One would expect the ocean to be rather lifeless. The fact is, however, quite the contrary because the ocean around Iceland is teeming with life. The explanation lies in the system of ocean currents around the country. As the warm North Atlantic drift approaching from the southwest meets the polar current from the north, a huge upwelling of nutrients takes place from the deeper layers to the surface. The nutrients feed microscopic life in the surface layers, notably phytoplankton and zooplankton and thus the ocean's entire food web. The North Atlantic drift warms the ocean south of Iceland and flows north along the west coast and east along the north coast. It meets the polar current off the north and west coasts and also in the southeast.

Hörður Sævaldsson / Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson University of Akureyri