Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HVALFJÖRÐUR AND WHALING
At the head of Hvalfjörður, the disused open-air
whaling
station
is a poignant reminder of
Iceland's days as a whaling nation and of the key role Hvalfjörður played in the industry. Right
up until the late 1980s, tourist buses from Reykjavík would even wiggle their way round the
fjord to allow visitors to watch the grisly spectacle of a whale being sliced up alfresco.
Commercial whaling out of Hvalfjörður operated from 1948 until 1989, when specially
equipped ships harpooned fin, sei and sperm whales in the deep waters off the west coast of
Iceland and towed them back to the Hvalfjörður whaling station. Minke whales were also
caught from ordinary fishing boats. In latter years, however, there was immense international
opposition
to the slaughter from various quarters, not least a boycott of Icelandic seafood
instigated by Greenpeace, and direct action, when a Canadian craft sank two Icelandic whaling
vessels and destroyed the whaling station here in November 1986.
With its economy declining as a result of the boycott, Iceland
withdrew
from the International
Whaling Commission in 1992, claiming the organization set up to manage whaling had become
one devoted solely to preventing all hunts. As an island nation, the Icelanders passionately
believe in the right to harvest all living marine resources, and opinion polls at the time showed
around eighty percent of the population in favour of whaling. Matters came to a head in March
1999 when, after much debate, the Icelandic parliament voted by a huge majority to
resume
whaling
and called on the government to begin preparations. However, since Iceland's most
important markets for fish are in Britain, France, Germany and the US, where opposition to
whaling is strongest, ministers trod carefully, aware that a country where three-quarters of all
exports are fish-related simply cannot risk another boycott. In October 2002 Iceland was
readmitted to the IWC, the first step towards the resumption of Icelandic commercial whaling
within the jurisdiction of the Commission, and since 2003 has been harvesting minke whales
again, although the number of whales currently being caught is bigger than the Japanese
market can absorb. Japan is Iceland's main export market for whale meat.
3
and fish processing account for roughly half the town's income, and there's a busy,
commercial air to the place. Akranes is also renowned for its
sporting
prowess - the local
football team, Íþróttabandalag Akraness (ÍA), are frequent national champions - and its
two sports halls, swimming pools and soccer stadium are of a correspondingly high
standard. Yet Akranes is hard to like: it's gritty, entirely without architectural charm and
can be a terribly cold spot even in summer, as icy winds straight off the sea howl round
street corners sending the hardiest locals scurrying for cover. However, it's a good base
from which to do some decent hikes around the heights of easterly Mount Akrafjall or,
when the sun is shining, to explore the long sandy beach,
Langisandur
, a fifteen-minute
walk from the town centre. Once you've exhausted the beach and the harbour area, it's
best to press on to the
Museum Centre
, where you can get to grips with the history of
the 1970s Cod Wars and admire some of Iceland's sporting heroes.
Museum Centre
Garðar •June-Aug daily 10am-5pm; Sept-May Mon-Fri 1-5pm • 500kr •
W
museum.is
Unusually for a provincial town, Akranes boasts four different museums, all set in the
Museum Centre
off Garðagrund and covering everything from the Akranes football
team to samples of quartz stone.
Outdoor exhibits
include several antique buildings; a
granite monument inscribed in Gaelic and Icelandic commemorating the Irish role in
Akranes' history; and the
twin-masted
ketch
Sigurfari
, built on Britain's River Humber
in 1885, which carries the honour of having been the last sailing ship in the Icelandic
fleet before being sold to the Faroe Islands where, remarkably, it fished until 1970.
Akranes Folk Museum
Indoors, your first port of call should be the
Akranes folk museum
, housed in the
building between the granite stone and the
Sigurfari
. The most interesting exhibits are
