Arctic Fish opens new slaughterhouse
Arctic Fish’s new slaughterhouse in the north-west of Iceland opened last week in a ceremony watched by a crowd of more than 500 people.
The Mayor of Bolungarvik, Jón Páll Hreinsson described the facility which is based near Drimla as “world-class”.
He told the regional website bb.is it was one of the biggest investments in business life in the Westfjords and would create around 40 jobs as well as an unspecified number of indirect jobs.
The Mayor also remained optimistic that the salmon farming industry would settle back to a more peaceful life following various controversies three months ago over fish escapes and other issues around aquaculture.
He said it was the government’s responsibility now to help utilise the natural conditions of the Westfjords region.
He also pointed out that this was one of the biggest business investments in the Westfjords, which is now Iceland’s largest salmon farming area.
A few days before the opening ceremony, the mayor said that despite the setbacks of recent weeks, the region still had full faith in fish farming. He also believed the current furore over open pen fish farming would eventually subside.
Daníel Jakobsson, Chief Business Development Officer at Arctic Fish said that the cost of the Drimla salmon slaughterhouse was about 5 billion ISK – some £28m.
The tanks for slaughter that have been erected will be put into operation in the coming weeks.
Jakobsson was also pleased at the high turnout, adding that the comments about the building and the technical equipment it contained were generally positive.
