The Fishing Technology students visited the research trawler, Jón Vídalín. The Icelandic Marine Institute, Hafro, completes annual stock surveys for the North-Western part of the island, with a total of 138 various trawl sites, both in- and off-shore. The vessel is leased for two to three weeks completing the surveys, though sometimes weather conditions do not permit for speedy sets.

The catch is released into the hold and down the belts to the processing area. Here, the fish are measured, weighed, and processed. All of the information in the bridge is computerized, and the captain uses equipement such as plotters and radar to monitor the set. The students were also brought down to the engine room, and toured the crew’s living quarters to get a sense of life onboard. Thanks to our instructor, Einar Hreinsson, for showing us around the vessel! (chelsea boaler)

Tuesday March 5, the Fishing Technology students visited the Net Loft here in Ísafjörður. The Net Loft receives net sections from main producers, and then connects the sections based on clients specifications and national regulations. The Net loft produces both seines and trawls. They service three home trawlers all year long, with an additional seven to 10 shrimp trawlers throughout the year, as well as some Danish seine boats. They are also responsible for some of the local aquaculture gear.

The workers were excited to show us around, and demonstrated all kinds of rope-working techniques, such as splicing. Very interesting to see such a historical practice still being carried-out by hand, directly in the fishing community. Thanks very much to Magni Ö. Guðmundsson, and the other workers for allowing us to visit! (chelsea boaler)

Our second International Buffet – A Night in Paris was a HIT! The buffet featured foods of France, where the the atmosphere was that of a French bistro one would find walking through the streets of Paris. Thank-you to everyone who came out to support the Ægir Student Association, eat good food, and converse with the students and our guests, and to all the volunteers envolved in making this night possible!

Stay tuned for our third International Buffet, coming up this May. A special thanks to Auður Ósk Aradóttir, owner of Kaffi Ísól, for providing us with the use of her facilities. (chelsea boaler)

The Aquaculture Students visited Hraðfrystihúsið – Gunnvör hf (HG)‘s aquaculture facilities.

HG participates in two main aquaculture projects, outside of their wild fisheries enterprises:
– On growing of captured cod
– Cod farming, from egg to market sized fish

Pens are between 15 and 20 m in diameter, and up to 90 m circumference. Smaller pens contain ~20,000 individuals, where bigger pen hold ~70,000 to 90,000 individuals. When we visited, the average weight of individuals was ~ 800g, where harvesting weight is  just below 3 kg. Challenges associated with this industry includes predation on penned fish by sea birds, most commonly cormorants. Additionally, since cod are bottom feeders, harvesting must be done in such a way as to eliminate or diminish bursting swim-bladders in the fish. This is true for juveniles being transported to the pens, as well as harvesting the marketable fish.

Our visit ended with samples of cod liver, and warm coffee on board one of the vessels. Thank-you to Kristján G. Jóakimsson, director of marketing and processing at HG for the in-class presentation, Barði Ingibjartsson and Eiríkur Ragnarsson for bringing us around the facilities and out to the pens, and to our instructor, Peter Krost, and program director, Dagný Arnarsdóttir, for organizing the outing.

Today, 13 CMM Students went to visit the FabLab (short for Fabrication Laboratory) here in Ísafjörður thanks to Albertína Friðbjörg Elíasdóttir, one of the staff members. Albertína showed us around the lab, pointing out all the equipment and examples of some of the awesome stuff one can create! They have a 3D printer, lazer cutters and sketchers, and a large saw used to create big pieces of work. The equipment is all free to use, and if you’d like to create something, you simply pay for the materials used.

The FabLab uses all free software, like Google SketchUp for their 3D printer. If you’d like to learn how to use the equipment, Inkscape has great online tutorials to encourage the self-learning philosophy of FabLab.

For more information on FabLab, you can visit the Wiki page or Nýsköpunarmiðstöð Íslands. (chelsea boaler)

Kampi ehf is a local company we students regularly come across when passing by the company’s docking freezing trawler ‘Ísbjörn ÍS-304’. And then there is this curious question of how the main ingredient of a tasty prawn cocktail ends up being the way we find it: cooked, peeled and fresh.
We decided to find out more about the trawler and the process of undressing a prawn and arranged a company visit with Salmar Jóhansson, the Quality Manager of Kampi ehf. This started by Salmar giving a lecture to us at the Uni Center, introducing into the company’s history and technology and explaining health and safety issues in preparation for our site visit.
Prawns were first caught in Iceland around 1930 and Ísafjörður was the first town to start processing prawns in Iceland. Its main representative in that respect nowadays is Kampi ehf, an experienced and leading prawn factory and prawn processing specialist. Besides catches from the Ísbjörn ÍS-304 the factory receives further input from Gunnbjörn IS and Valbjörn IS. Those two trawlers belong to Birnir ehf, the biggest shareholder of Kampi, who catches fresh prawns for Kampi from February to end of October each year.
Kampi produces high quality products with maximum supervision from the quality management team, its customers own auditing team and independent trusted sources – which we could witness on site. Besides, Kampi is an environmentally aware producer. Two examples for this are the company’s recent switch from oil to electricity (remember the Icelandic context!) and the processing of shell waste into prawn meal.

Takk fyrir, Salmar Jóhansson, for having provided us with this exciting opportunity! (katrin krzewina)

This past Saturday, November 10th 2012, the students hosted an international dinner night: food and music from all over the globe, representing the 12 nations from which the 2012/13 CMM students come. The event was held at Kaffi Ísol and was a huge success thanks to the support of owner Auður Ósk Aradóttir, translation services from Albertína Friðbjörg Elíasdóttir (University Writing Center), and seafood donations from Fiskbúð Sjávarfangs. This event provided the opportunity for CMM students to not only work and organize amongst themselves, but also to become immersed in the local community, sharing our stories and interests as students in Ísafjörður. I was completely overwhelmed with everyone’s hard work and generosity; students and locals alike! The positive outcomes of this event have provided us with opportunities to host future community events; so, stay tuned!

Meanwhile,  check out BB’s coverage on the event! My rough English translation…
“A crowd at international buffet: Students who study at the University Center cooked food from their home countries last Saturday and invited the townspeople to feast at Kaffi Ísol. Residents crowded the buffet and were very well received, as chefs work to make the evening a success. The hall was decorated with flags and maps and options were extremely varied, colorful, and delicious.” (chelsea boaler)