Icelandic fisheries risk zero capelin catch for the second year in a row

Heiðrún Lind Marteinsdóttir, CEO of Fisheries Iceland, says a season where no capelin is caught is not entirely unknown. It last happened in 2019 – 2020 (the annual fishing season runs from 1 September to 31 August).

“Right now, the Marine & Freshwater Research Institute (MFRI) recommends that no capelin is caught during this season. However, we still have hope since the MFRI conducts its main capelin search in January and February. 

“Of course, we hope that goes well but sometimes it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. We know it’s there, ships spot the capelin and we even see it in the stomachs of cod. So we have a clear indication that it’s there, the challenge is finding enough of it for the authorities to assign a quota. But we are optimistic.”

Capelin boosts GDP

If no capelin is caught it will affect the economy. A recent economic forecast from the bank Landsbankinn indicates that if the authorities opened up to catch capelin it could increase GDP by 0.5 to 1 per cent for the year.

Heiðrún Lind Marteinsdóttir, CEO at SFS, still hopes there will be a capelin catch in 2025. Photo: SFS

“A good capelin season means 20 – 50 billion ISK (€137.6m –€344m) in export value. That represents value not only for the fishing industry but also for fishermen, people working in fish processing and so on. This means huge tax revenues for the state and municipalities. So everyone benefits from this,” Marteinsdóttir says.

And for the fishing companies, the effects can be huge.

“Capelin is the industry’s second most valuable fish export after cod. So this has a huge impact on company finances and their investment capabilities. It also creates challenges when it comes to keeping staff on the books.

"And there are secondary effects on businesses that service the fishery industry, like machine shops, electricians and fishing net makers which all count on fisheries doing well. So the effects are huge.” 

More funds for research needed

The fisheries have long asked for more funds for marine research. This applies especially to capelin since it is not clear where the fish ends up or what causes it to end up where it does.

“We believe there is limited understanding of what it takes to provide good recommendations on catch limits for various species. Marine research has suffered flat budget cuts, and we can understand that the operations need to be streamlined. 

“But we know that research ships spend fewer days at sea than before, the species are not monitored as well as earlier and fewer samples are taken. All this means we know less about what is happening in the sea. 

“That leads to more uncertainty which means more cautious scientific recommendations. So I strongly believe that the recommendation is lower because of a systematic uncertainty.” 

Capelin is Iceland's second-most valuable export after cod. Photo: Erlend Astad Lorentzen/Havforskningsinstituttet

Marteinsdóttir adds that when fishing regulations were revised 10 years ago, it was widely believed that more ships were necessary to gather the required measurements.

“That hasn’t happened. MFRI has the same number of ships now as before and only one of them is used for capelin search. And one ship is not enough. So MFRI has had to rent ships from fishing companies.

“In some cases, the fishing companies have financed the search themselves. This is very unfortunate when the institute is required by law to carry out this work. But this is the problem and we are not seeing this change any time soon.”

In danger of losing market share

Marteinsdóttir says not many companies would survive for long without capelin. 

“It would be very difficult to keep the investments and the machinery going. But the big risk is that as soon as the product is off the market for some time, the consumers go elsewhere. 

“Buyers of products like capelin roe simply find a replacement. Then two things can happen; the consumer will stop using these products altogether, or they will be very difficult to access again in high-price markets when things start to improve.

“So it becomes very costly for us if we can’t deliver this product regularly in line with market demands. This can affect prices and our access to a good market, leading to considerable long-term effects. It can take a long time to work our way out of such damage.”

Marteinsdóttir has a recent example – the effects of a two-month strike among fishermen in 2017. 

“It took a long time to get the markets back after that – to reclaim space on the store shelves, to get back in the restaurants and so on. Keeping these markets requires constant work.”