Whaling season used for maintenance

“We’re just in the starting phase, both on the boats and elsewhere,” says Gunnlaugur Fjólar Gunnlaugsson, station manager at Hvalur hf. “The morale is fine and we’re all excited to be able to start fishing on September 1st.”

This summer, the maintenance team at Hvalur is very large. All those who were hired during the summer season, over 100 people, are now doing maintenance, whether it be cleaning or painting or cleaning moss off stones. Hvalur hf. has not laid off any employee, although the season did not start due to a temporary ban on whaling.

“We had hired these people to work for us this season and we are not going to leave them hanging. However, it is obvious that it is a burden to keep a canteen and all this staff without any revenue.”

So we have a lot of work to do in the boats up in Hvalfjörður and in the freezer plant in Hafnarfjörður, and there are 20 people doing maintenance, and everything will be ready and in the best condition when the fishing begins. “We are ready for the fight on September 1st.”