Former Nordafar chief says Føroyingahavnin needs a clean-up

Jørmund Vágadal, a former director of Nordafar, says Føroyingahavnin should be cleaned up, according to KVF. Vágadal led the company from 1982 to 1984 and spoke about his time at the Greenland fishing station while looking at photographs of its current condition.

Føroyingahavnin’s history dates back about 100 years. In the 1920s, Faroese fishers began searching for new fishing grounds off Greenland, leading to the establishment of an outfitting station in Kangerluarsoruseq fjord, about 50 kilometres south of Nuuk. One reason for the station was that Faroese fishers were not allowed to enter Greenlandic harbours to land and process their catch.

After the Second World War, interest in fishing off Greenland grew. In 1953, Norwegian, Danish and Faroese interests established A/S Nordafar and a new fishing harbour near the original station. The newer harbour came to be known as Føroyingahavnin, while the original harbour farther into the fjord became known as Gamla Føroyingahavnin, or Old Føroyingahavnin.

Norwegian and Danish interests later withdrew from Nordafar, while the Faroese continued operating the station. Activity declined in the early 1980s, and Nordafar went bankrupt in 1989.

An expert group submitted recommendations to the Faroese government in 2018 on what should be done with Nordafar. In 2019, the Greenland National Museum published a report describing the condition of the old buildings.