Exploring Reykjavik

We woke up to a rainy, windy day. Today we visited the Ocean Cluster a shared office that allows businesses to innovate together  on Ocean products. When Iceland gained home rule in 1904 there were 100,000 people here, mostly farmers. In 1917 the harbor was built and the first trawlers which were more efficient fishing boats started plying in the waters. At that time most of the fish were salted and sent to the Southern Europe. The Good Force was Iceland's first passenger ship ending Iceland's isolation. It sailed from 1920 to 1968. The first freezer ships came in 1936. At the start of WWII, Iceland declared itself neutral, but in May 1940 warships were outside the harbor, 4 policemen were sent on a coast guard vessel to investigate. The British had invaded, Iceland began a profitable period of shipping fish to England. From 1950 to 1975 Iceland began expanding their exclusive fishing zone from 4 to 7 to 50 and then to 200 miles.This led to the Cod Wars with Britain. Coast Guard ships would cut the nets of Britain's fishing ships and British war ships would ram the Coast Guard ships, whose skippers became local heroes. Eventually the Americans helped end the war.

Net Scissors in the Cod Wars

In 1975 the Maritime Institute warned that the fish stock was rapidly declining. At the time, 400 million tons of cod were harvested yearly. In 1984 a quota system was established based on the estimated Cod stock. Each vessel got a quota based on past catches. The annual quota started at 150M tons rising slowly to 260M tons today. The system is highly controversial highly successful at saving the fisheries but at the toll of lost jobs and industry consolidation .

The cluster has studied the industry. With modern vessels the catch that took 10 ships and 300 men can be done by 1 ship and 10 men. Fifty percent of the fish industry jobs have been lost since 1985. New jobs have replaced them in shipping companies, process equipment companies and new products from fish using the skin, bones and livers. Creams, oils, candy, medicines or fish skin to repair burns and wounds,even 800 Cod Skin lamps. The jobs are more varied and unemployment is only 2%.

Cod Skin Lamp

We hurried to catch the bus to go the Iceland National Museum which explained the history of Iceland from its settling in 874 AD until the present times. It's population was never very large and mostly ruled from Denmark. The museum has artifacts from burial sites, the Catholic and Lutheran religious traditions, and the tools of the trades through the ages. It only took about an hour to tour.

After a quick lunch, we toured the Icelandic Parliament. Iceland's first Parliament was held around 930, the oldest in the world. The current building was built in 1880 and the roof has a Danish crown on top. Today there is one house of 63 members. We toured the chambers and heard the stories about the art decorating the rooms and the rise in women members over recent years.

Iceland's Parliament

The wind was still blowing and the skies raining so we took the bus back to our hotel rather than walking downtown. One of the ladies almost fell when a gust of wind grabbed her. Dinner was at the Brasserie Askur about a block from the hotel, which had chicken wings, hamburgers and traditional lamb dishes.