Salmon fishing in Iceland: Things looking good for 2010
A grilse is hauled in on the Fljotaa in the north, one of the rivers to record a record in 2009.
According to Guðni Guðbergsson, one of Iceland's leading fisheries biologists, the likelihood of a highly successful salmon season for 2010, is in all probability very, very good. “Good years come a few in a row, just like the bad years, and we have had two outstanding years in 2009 and 2008,” Guðni told us.
Into a salmon on Cliff pool on Haffjardara, a consistently excellent river on the west coast. Photo by Yngvi Óttarsson.
Guðni prefers not to call his thoughts on the matter a prediction. “I am only assessing how things are looking. The fisheries biologists have not yet completed going through the statistics and data from last year, so predictions are premature. However, assessments may be made, looking generally at how things have been going recently. There is absolutely no reason for any pessimism considering 2010, on the contrary things are looking good. We have seen two outstanding seasons, a record season in 2008 were very many west coast rivers recorded record seasons. Last year we had an “almost 2008” with the records shifting to the western north coast rivers. I'm not going so far as to say that we might be looking at another record season, but it might well be in the same vein as 2009. We saw much the same thing happen during the eighties and while there are fewer mws's these days, the trend is very much the same.
A big cock fish about to be released on Midfjardara, the river produced a stunning record last year. Photo by Rafn Valur Alfreðsson.
There are no guarantees in these matters, but good top seasons tend to come in groups just as the bad seasons do the same and we appear to be in the midst of a top period for the moment. The conditions in the rivers and on the feeding grounds in the ocean appear to be very good at the moment and at the same time several river managers have been putting huge amounts of smolts into previously salmonless rivers, upping the total catch greatly, adding some 30.000 salmon to the catch in 2008 and 20.000 last year. When you consider that the total salmon catch in Iceland in 1984 was 23.000 salmon, it is apparent just how much the salmon fishing landscape has changed in Iceland,” Guðni said.
