Where are all the Fishermen?
The West Fjords of Iceland are dotted with small fishing towns. Yet these towns seem to do very little actual fishing since the mid seventies when a quota system was enacted as a response to an overfishing crisis. While it has been successful in allowing the population of herring around Iceland to rebound, it has had other effects as well. A fisherman stepping off a small private boat in the village of Þingeyri said this year he had met his quota in a mere 5 days. Consequently, there is a lot of fishing equipment lying around and it is surprisingly difficult to get fresh fish in any of these towns (unless of coarse you have a boat and do it yourself). The law is apparently not strict about fishing for personal consumption.
Below are a couple of images of all this gear in the harbors of some of these towns with more to follow in the next few days.
