water

Shark Fishing in Iceland

Ocean Oral History

Shark fishing has been practiced for centuries in Iceland. The broad objective of this ongoing research is to study the history of shark fishing in Iceland from the high days of Icelandic shark fishing in the latter half of the 19th century to recent days. The main focus is on shark fishing in the 20th and 21st century. The research sheds light on how sharks have shaped the Icelandic society and how Icelandic society has shaped the lives of sharks, by providing historical context to the relationship between Icelanders and one of the top predators in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Greenland shark. It is important to explore this aspect of Icelandic history further, to enhance people ́s understanding of the marine ecosystem from the context of the past and the current increasing concerns about the status of sharks worldwide. Next to nothing has been written about shark fishing in the 20th and 21st Iceland, which shows the importance of interviewing shark fishermen – most of whom are at an old age today. The main methodology used in the research is oral history.

Ég legg nú stund á rannsókn á sögu Íslendinga og hákarla við Ísland. Sú rannsókn mín tekur annars vegar til skoðunar hvernig hinn gríðarstóri háfiskur, hákarlinn, hefur haft áhrif á líf Íslendinga – og hins vegar hvernig Íslendingar hafa haft áhrif á tilvist hákarlsins við Ísland; hér er sumsé um að ræða sögu um gagnvirk áhrif hákarla og Íslendinga. Hafríkið hefur borið skarðan hlut frá söguborðinu á heimsvísu. Því tel ég mikilvægt að ljá íslenska hafríkinu og þegnum þess rödd – og það geri ég meðal annars með því að fá fram nýja vitneskju og sjónarhorn með viðtölum við þá sem lifa í beinni snertingu við hafið.

research lectures on the history of shark fishing in Iceland

A guest lecturer in the course Environmental humanities (Umhverfishugvísindi). University of Iceland. I gave a lecture about ocean oral history and the greenland shark in Iceland waters. 2023. –  See

Masculinity of shark fishermen in Iceland. Radio lecture. The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RÚV). 2022. – See

Sharks International 2022 Conference – poster booth. – See

shark

conservation

See my non-profit organization Sharks of Iceland : Hákarlar við Ísland

sharkiceland.com

Salmon nation in the North

Laxaþjóð í norðri

I am conducting an salmon oral history research about the relationship of Icelandic river owners with their rivers and salmon stocks. The Icelandic rivers and salmon have shaped the lives of Icelanders for centuries, and vice versa. The Icelandic salmon history has taken a dark turn in recent year, due to the open net-pen salmon farms found offshore Iceland that threat the existence of the Icelandic wild salmon. The methodology of oral history is crucial for investigating the human relationship with salmon, by exploring peoples experience and individual memories regarding the rivers and the salmon. Nature has no voice thus it is my aim to capture the voices of Icelandic river owners which speak on the behalf of the Icelandic wild salmon. 

„Hver laxastofn býr að eigin ásýnd, aðlögunarhæfni, og erfðaefni – eru listaverk sem árnar hafa skapað í aldanna rás.“

written material

tv/radio interviews / newspaper interviews

I was interviewed for the Patagonia documentary Laxaþjóð | A Salmon Nation – directed by Arth­ur Neu­meier 

Laxaþjóð | A Salmon Nation – Full Film

Laxaþjóð | A Salmon Nation – Official Trailer

Icelandic River People

Vatnafólk

Icelandic River People is an ongoing oral history project about the isolated lives of people in county Austur-Skaftafellssysla in Iceland before the Ring Road was finished in 1974. The project aims to explore how people in that area engaged with the ever-changing proglacial rivers from a water-centric perspective.

– The research is funded by Kvískerjasjóður.

Verkefnið Vatnafólk fjallar um lífið í Austur-Skaftafellssýslu fyrir komu hringvegarins. Svæðið sem heyrði undir fyrrum Austur-Skaftafellssýslu var löngum einangrað frá samgöngum á Íslandi sökum jökla, óbrúaðra vatnsfalla og eyðisanda. Í rannsókninni er sjónum beint að því hvernig einangrun sveitanna setti sinn svip á daglega tilveru sveitafólks á svæðinu fram eftir 20. öldinni. Áhersla er lögð á að fjalla um samband sveitafólksins við vatnasvið svæðisins út frá sjónarhorni vatnahugvísindanna. Verkefnið byggir fyrst og fremst á viðtölum mínum við fólk úr Austur-Skaftafellssýslu sem upplifði á eigin skinni einangrun vegna skorts á vegasamgöngum við önnur svæði – en söguleg skil urðu í þeim efnum við opnun Skeiðarárbrúar og Hringvegarins árið 1974.

 – Verkefnið hlaut styrk úr Kvískerjasjóðnum.

radio lectureson Icelandic aquatic history

aquatic documentaries

River Kaldakvísl

River Kaldakvísl is a documentary about my home river in valley Mosfellsdalur. It tells a story about a human-river relationship by conveying the above and underwater world of the river through filmed material of the river and oral history interviews with valley people from different generations. – Release date 2024.

Funded by Lista- og menningarsjóður Mosfellsbæjar

Urriðinn í Öxará sóttur heim

Sharks and men

Educational film for elementary students for the project Sharks in the classroom, run by my nonprofit organization Sharks of Iceland /Hákarlar við Ísland.

Funded by

• Menningarsjóður tengdum nafni Jóhannesar Nordal / Seðlabanki Íslands
• Verkefnasjóður sjávarútvegs
• Samfélagsráð HS Orku
• The national bank Landsbankinn
• Lista- og menningarsjóður Mosfellsbæjar

Porpoise in Iceland

aquatic visual art