Fishing vessels

Until the 19th century, fisheries by Icelanders were almost exclusively conducted by open rowing boats that were similar in construction throughout the centuries. Although they were much smaller and more primitive than the boats used by the foreign fleets around Iceland, they proved efficient, since the fishing grounds were usually close to shore and no sheltered harbours were available. Decked sailing vessels were first used in Greenland shark fisheries and, to a limited degree, in cod fisheries from the beginning of the early 19th century. It was only after 1880 that decked sailing vessels became an important part of the cod fishery. However, their heyday was short-lived, and they declined in numbers after 1907 and were phased out altogether by 1928. By that time rowing boats were also becoming rare and very few of them seem to have survived past 1950. The reason for the decline of these boats was, of course, the motor. The first motor was put into an Icelandic fishing boat in 1902 and the first all-Icelandic owned steam trawler was bought in 1904.

Since the arrival of the motor, the Icelandic fishing fleet has evolved from being among the most primitive to becoming one of the most modern fishing fleets in the world. Nowadays, radar, fish finders, global positioning systems (GPS) and computer controlled fishing gear are standard equipment on most large and small Icelandic fishing vessels.

Icelandic fishers were, in fact, the first in the world to install some of this equipment in their fishing boats. The trawler Ingólfur Arnarson (named after the first settler in Iceland), which came newly built to its Icelandic owners in 1947, was the first fishing boat in the world with radar. By 1950, almost the entire trawler fleet was equipped with radar and automatic sounders and was considered, at that time, the most modern trawler fleet in the world. This equipment greatly increased the fishing capacity of the trawlers, helping them find the fishing grounds and almost unexpectedly, find the fish with the sounders.

The herring fleet was also at the forefront of the use of new technology. The first Icelandic purse-seiners were experimenting with sonar in 1954 and the powerblock in 1959. By 1961, the whole purse-seine fleet was so equipped, and this technology had almost completely replaced traditional drift netting. Another primary example of this rate of dissemination was when the Icelandic trawler fleet changed from being outfitted with side trawlers to a fleet composed entirely of stern trawlers within a span of 9 years. More recently, the handline fleet has changed almost completely from traditional handlines to automatic, computerized jigging reels.

The Icelandic motor fishing fleet has traditionally been split into 3 groups; trawlers, decked boats, and undecked boats. The decked boat category is by far the most diverse as it ranges from small boats (smaller than many undecked boats) to large purse-seiners and multipurpose vessels. However, the separation of decked boats and trawlers is not very clear since many decked boats can also use trawls. Many of the decked boats are also structurally similar to stern trawlers, and some of the old side trawlers were converted to purse-seiners, which put them into the decked boat class. This classification is in fact a kind of an anachronism from the times when trawlers were much larger than all the other boats. This started to change around 1960 when large purse-seiners began operating. However, Icelandic data sources still separate the boats into these classes.

The total number of fishing vessels at the end of the year 2007 was 1,642. Of these 84 were trawlers with a combined size of 91,656 GT, decked vessels were 834 with a combined size of 74,067 GT and undecked boats were 744 with a combined size of 3,556 GT. The number of boats in all categories declined from previous year. In 2007 about 41% of the total catch value was landed by trawlers, just over 1% by the small undecked boats and 58% by other vessels of varying sizes and capacities. These numbers only apply to boats that have licenses to fish in Icelandic waters.

Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson / Hörður Sævaldsson, University of Akureyri