It hasn’t been easy for months for the inhabitants of Grindavík, the fishing port on the south coast of Iceland that found itself in the shadow of a volcanic eruption at the end of last year.
Today Grindavík is not considered inhabitable, and the town’s inhabitants have been dispersed mainly to neighbouring communities, the majority of them thrown into Iceland’s difficult rental market as they have scrambled to find places to live.
There has been a level of uncertainty as to whether or not it might be possible to return home at some point. But the outlook is now bleak and opinion is that Grindavík is going to be a far from safe place to live in the future as the volcanic activity a few hundred metres from the town’s extremities shows no sign of slowing down.
It’s a key fishing port, and some Grindavík processors have continued to maintain activity and to take delivery of landings, although it’s currently anyone’s guess what the future holds for the port.
Processing and fishing companies Thorbjörn and Vísir have shifted some activities elsewhere, but picking up a high-tech processing plant and moving it to another location is no simple undertaking.
Fishing gear company Veiðarfæragerðin was fortunate enough to be provided with a temporary refuge at Hampiðjan’s net loft in Reykjavík, before finding a new home in Hafnarfjörður.
‘Hampiðjan offered us space back in November and we were there for a few weeks, before we returned to Grindavík,’ said Veiðarfæragerðin’s managing director Hörður Jónsson.
‘Then in January the vocanic activity reached a new level, and it was clear that we wouldn’t be able to remain in Grindavík. Hampiðjan took us in again. Since then we’ve found a workshop in Hafnarfjörður that’s ours for a few years – as this whole area is due for redevelopment.’
He commented that the staff have all remained with the company, and the client base has stayed with them despite the turmoil of the last few months.
‘It hasn’t been easy for the staff. It isn’t easy to find accommodation and people have been renting, not knowing for how long, and some people have had to move repeatedly from one short-term let to another,’ he said, and added that since the January event that made it clear living in Grindavík wasn’t an option, the state has stepped in to buy homes, although at a rate that’s acceptable rather than attractive.
‘Our customers for trawl and seine net gear have stayed with us and we’re as busy as usual. But it has been challenging, as so much time is lost in moving equipment and stores back and forth more than once. For the staff, it’s not just work that’s affected, but their whole lives as families have had to move all their whole lives and households,’ he said.
‘Hampiðjan really provided a lifeline for us in Reykjavík, made space in their own workshops and did everything they could for us.’
