Seyðisfjörður resident says fish farming would sacrifice too much

A resident of Seyðisfjörður says the proposed open-net fish farm in the fjord would do more harm than good. More than 13,000 signatures opposing the plan were handed to the environment, energy and climate minister, mbl.is reports.

Þóra Bergný Guðmundsdóttir thanked Minister Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson for accepting the petition. “We trust the government to step in and listen to this strong voice. There can be no evading it now. They have long known what we have to say,” she told mbl.is.

Þóra said her main concern was the natural environment, particularly the fjord and its seabed. She said waste from the fish farm would remain in the deep, narrow fjord, which has weak currents and a seabed marked by gullies and crevices. “We would be sacrificing a lot for very little,” she said.

She also said the proposal could damage the community. Residents had faced significant setbacks but were continuing to build up the town, she said, adding that the fish farm ran counter to those efforts. She described the issue as divisive, saying people who had lived peacefully alongside one another were now turning against each other.

Þóra, who runs the Hafaldan guesthouse, disputed claims that the farm would bring needed jobs. “We don’t need jobs. If we need jobs, we create them. We have always done that. We don’t need a Norwegian company to come in and do it for us,” she said.

She pointed to plans for a laundry serving the town’s 300 guest rooms. Laundry is currently driven to Eskifjörður, she said, while an empty fish-freezing plant in Seyðisfjörður could be used for the project.

Þóra said there were enough opportunities in the town and argued that the number of jobs planned by Kaldvík was limited. “There are other options,” she said.