Reporting from the villages of East Iceland and on everything that concerns the region. Updated daily.
Gylfi Þór Sigurðsson, a Víkingur player, was in talks in 2024 with KFA, which was then playing in the men’s 2nd division. Eggert Gunnþór Jónsson, then the team’s player-assistant coach, tried to convince Gylfi to move to East Iceland.
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A brand-new, state-of-the-art Komatsu excavator has recently drawn considerable attention in Seyðisfjörður. Not so much the excavator itself, perhaps, as its highly unusual colours. It is no coincidence that the machine was delivered on Pink Day itself, 21 October, on which day, and indeed throughout the month, everyone in the country is especially encouraged to wear pink in order to…
Up to sixty percent of the herring arriving at Loðnuvinnslan in Fáskrúðsfjörður is now Icelandic summer-spawning herring. Plant manager Magnús Ásgrímsson says processing is going well in the new building.
Síldarvinnslan’s fish processing plant in Neskaupstaður has received 23,000 tonnes of herring so far this season. Síldarvinnslan’s website states that five thousand tonnes remain to be caught.
The Days of Darkness festival began in Fjarðabyggð over the weekend and runs until Halloween next Saturday. During this time the dark season is met with lights, art and live stories, with fifteen events on the programme in all.
Four boys and all the girls attended a cooking course at Eskifjarðarskóli in the autumn of 1953. Þorsteinn Skúlason won a prize for his recipe book, and the trophy still adorns his dining table.
Guðröður Hákonarson, often known as Gurri, of Hildibrand in Neskaupstaður, received the East Iceland tourism encouragement award, Klettur, at the association’s autumn meeting last week. It is a recognition for having been a powerful driving force in the development of tourism in Neskaupstaður.
Blængur NK came in with 620 tonnes after a 26-day fishing trip. The catch was worth ISK 507 million, even though autumn storms disrupted the fishing.
The board of the Association of Municipalities in East Iceland (SSA) demands that the government drop the planned changes to the discount terms of Loftbrú and instead ensure sufficient funding to strengthen support for the scheme.
Loftbrúin (the Air Bridge) was established in 2020 to improve access for rural residents to centralised services and to strengthen rural communities.
The first exploratory drilling for hot water in Borgarfjörður eystri in about 50 years was carried out by HEF-veitur a short while ago, but, as had been expected beforehand, the preliminary results give little cause for optimism.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office has issued a yellow warning for increased risk of landslides and rockfall in Austfirðir, East Iceland as far as Glettingur, and on Tröllaskagi. The warning is in effect until noon tomorrow.
The Association of Municipalities in East Iceland objects to the planned change to the Loftbrú scheme. The cut is an attack on living conditions in rural areas, it says.
The Association of Municipalities in East Iceland (SSA) strongly objects to the planned changes to Loftbrú and demands that the government drop its plans to replace the current percentage-based subsidy of airfares with a fixed amount in krónur.
The freezer trawler Blængur NK arrived in Neskaupstaður yesterday after a 26-day fishing trip. The vessel’s catch was 620 tonnes gutted. On the company’s website, the value of the catch is stated as ISK 507 million.
The freezer trawler Blængur NK arrived in Neskaupstaður yesterday after a 26-day fishing trip, most of it in rough weather. The vessel nevertheless landed 620 tonnes, with a catch value estimated at about ISK 507 million.
The risk of landslides and rockfalls has increased because of heavy rainfall in the Eastfjords, and the Icelandic Road Administration has reported a landslide that fell onto the road at Njarðvíkurskriður.
The fishing trip took 26 days and the catch was mostly cod and haddock, but also golden redfish, saithe and other species
It was announced on the Government Offices website on 23 October that from 1 January 2027 the Loftbrú discount will be a fixed amount, ISK 7,000 per flight leg, instead of 40% of the fare. As a result, the average subsidy per flight leg falls by just under a quarter, and the state’s total subsidies for the scheme fall from about ISK 740 million to about ISK 560 million.
The Fjarðabyggð municipal council strongly protests the planned changes to Loftbrú (the Air Bridge) and calls on the government to drop the plans. The council says cutting airfare subsidies is an unacceptable attack on living conditions in rural areas.
Kaldvík’s lenders have extended the waiver of loan covenants until 3 pm on Wednesday, 28 October. Talks on the company’s financing continue.
On 6 February 2024 a storm swept across the Eastfjords, and the farmers at Vattarnes were hit especially hard. In one small spot the wind intensified and caused major damage to a residential house and sheep sheds. The roof of the outbuildings was blown off in one piece and then shattered in another …
Winds will pick up around 7 pm this evening from the northwest in the Eastfjords, and gusts could reach up to 35 m/s in wind streams near mountains, for example in Hamarfjörður.
Stefán Skafti Steinólfsson. Dear readers. The assault on Hamarsdalur in the old Djúpavogshreppur, now Múlaþing, continues. The decision by the minister of energy and the environment and the Althing to move the proposed power plant plans in Hamarsdalur from the protection category into …
Staff at the Housing and Construction Authority (HMS) have for some time been working to estimate the property boundaries of farms across the country where no surveyed delineation exists. The authority has now published draft boundaries for a total of 1,160 farms in Northeast and East Iceland.
The electric vehicle charging stations that the municipality of Fjarðabyggð installed some time ago and has operated since will be decommissioned, following a decision by the planning and construction committee. The stations’ equipment has become obsolete and they have mostly stopped working and generating revenue.
Lenders of the fish farming company Kaldvík have further extended the company’s temporary waiver from certain loan terms, although the deadline was due to expire today.
Lenders of sea-cage fish farming company Kaldvík have extended further the deadline of the company’s temporary waiver from its loan terms. The deadline was due to expire today but has been extended until Wednesday.
KFA (Knattspyrnufélag Austfjarða) has issued a statement after Höttur withdrew from the cooperation under the FHL banner in women’s football.
Over a million salmon died in sea pens in Iceland in September. A department head says the vast majority died in Reyðarfjörður, because of jellyfish plaguing them.
Ingibjörg Isaksen, Progressive Party MP for the Northeast constituency, says Loftbrú is about evening out the situation between the capital area and the countryside. She is concerned that decisions are being thrown out without involving the municipalities and rural areas. She wants to see the Minister of Infrastructure “back down from this decision” to use a fixed krónur amount instead of a percentage.
The board and managing director of Knattspyrnufélag Austfjarða in Fjarðabyggð have issued a statement expressing regret over the decision by Höttur in Egilsstaðir to end the cooperation on the FHL women’s team.
The planned cuts to Loftbrú are an unacceptable attack on living conditions in rural areas, according to the Fjarðabyggð town council. It calls on the government to drop the plans immediately and instead to strengthen support for air passengers who are forced to travel to the capital area for essential services.
Menningarstofa Fjarðabyggðar (the Fjarðabyggð Cultural Centre) and the newly founded National Opera have signed a three-year declaration of intent on continued cooperation on opera performances, education and the development of musical activity in East Iceland. This, they say, would increase residents’ access to opera and create more opportunities for musicians in the region.
Lenders to the aquaculture company Kaldvík have extended the company’s temporary waiver from certain loan terms until the end of today.
Eyjólfur Ármannsson, Minister of Infrastructure, has indicated that the planned cut in the airfare subsidy for rural residents to ISK 7,000 per flight leg will be reconsidered and may be raised to ISK 9,000. The minister’s ideas have drawn heavy criticism from many quarters, but an increase of ISK 2,000 on the earlier proposal is seen by many as no great concession.
Jónína Brynjólfsdóttir, president of the Múlaþing municipal council, welcomes plans to increase funding for Loftbrú but says she does not like the planned changes to the subsidy system. She believes the current arrangement, in which the state subsidises 40% of airfares, is far more sensible than a fixed amount in krónur.
Two new staff members have been hired at the Tjarnarskógur preschool in Egilsstaðir, where a severe staff shortage at the start of the school year greatly limited how many children could be admitted. Everything now looks to be improving, although the preschool still needs to advertise for staff.
The valuation of the fish farming company Kaldvík has been cut by almost a third following operating difficulties, a weakening cash position and rising financing costs. Analysts consider the company’s financial position heavy after major setbacks in recent months, but expect operations to begin recovering next year.
The mayor of Múlaþing says the addition to Loftbrú, announced yesterday by the infrastructure minister, is not what people are calling for. Not everyone can live in Reykjavík, and rural residents’ access to services must be made more equal.
We who live in East Iceland help fund the nation’s shared services just like everyone else. A large share of those services and that activity is in the capital area. Many of the state’s main institutions are there, and that is where we go to get a wide range of services, cultural events and sports activities. Residents of other parts of the country who live far from Reykjavík face a similar situation.
Jóna Árný Þórðardóttir, town and port director of Fjarðabyggð, was elected the new chair of the Icelandic Ports Association on Friday. She takes over from Lúðvík Geirsson and is the very first woman to hold the post.
“I find this a very sad matter and I urge the infrastructure minister to withdraw these ideas,” says Njáll Trausti Friðbertsson, Independence Party MP for the Northeast constituency, about infrastructure minister Eyjólfur Ármannsson’s planned changes to Loftbrú.
Jens Garðar Helgason, vice-chair of the Independence Party and the party’s MP for the Northeast Constituency, says it did not surprise him that the Minister of Infrastructure has already begun considering a review of the changed rules on Loftbrú.
As previously reported, a new SPAR store is due to open in the Kjörbúðin premises in Neskaupstaður in the middle of next month. To make that go as smoothly as possible, the existing stock must be cleared, which is why all the store’s products are now 50% off for the next few days.
It is unbelievable to watch how the government seems to be systematically making it harder and more expensive to live in rural areas. Now Loftbrú is to be cut, leaving rural residents with a fixed discount of ISK 7,000 per flight leg instead of a 40% discount. The government calls this a change of arrangement. The rest of us simply call it what…
“This changes nothing. Of course I welcome that he is reconsidering this decision, but it is still a cut to Loftbrú, and we simply think it is a crazy course for him to take while also raising the kilometre charge. Proportionally, East Icelanders will be hit by far the worst by this, and it is simply a huge step backwards.”
The first haul yielded about 450 tonnes, but less was caught in the following ones. The skipper says the share of Icelandic summer-spawning herring in the catch is growing.
The school complex in Reyðarfjörður, a football hall, a sports hall and school buildings will be heated by burning wood pellets. Construction of Tandraorka’s new heating plant is well advanced.
There is widespread anger in East Iceland over planned changes to Loftbrú, which Infrastructure Minister Eyjólfur Ármannsson presented yesterday.
The Minister of Infrastructure announced yesterday changes to the Loftbrú scheme that take effect from the new year. The chair of the Association of Municipalities in East Iceland says the changes are a slap in the face for residents of rural areas.
The chief executive of Múlaþing says she is disappointed and hurt by the government’s plans to change the discounted air fares for rural residents. She criticises the lack of consultation and says this is yet another blow to the countryside.
The municipal director of Múlaþing says she is disappointed and hurt by the government’s plans to change the discounted air fares for rural residents. She criticises the lack of consultation and says this is yet another blow for rural areas.
Ingvar Þóroddsson, Viðreisn MP for the Northeast constituency, opposes the government’s change to the Loftbrú arrangement as it was presented yesterday. Mbl.is reports.
Ingvar Þóroddsson, a Reform Party (Viðreisn) MP for the Northeast constituency, opposes the government’s change to the Loftbrú arrangement.
“This is yet another blow to rural areas,” says Jónína Brynjólfsdóttir, chair of the Múlaþing council.
The Housing and Construction Authority (HMS) has finished estimating the property boundaries of about 1,150 farms in Northeast Iceland and East Iceland. The farms cover about 20 thousand square kilometres, and with the new data, property boundaries have been estimated in areas equivalent to about 83% of Iceland’s total area.
For those of us who live far from the capital, it matters that we can easily access services there without such trips causing unnecessary financial worries. It is fundamental that where people live does not determine their ability to use the services that have been built up in the capital for all citizens. Domestic flights play a key role in this. The infrastructure minister’s announced changes in connection with…
Jóna Árný Þórðardóttir, municipal and harbour director of Fjarðabyggð, is the first woman to serve as chair of the Icelandic Ports Association (Hafnarsamband Íslands). She was elected chair at the association’s annual congress, which ended today.
The chair of the Association of Municipalities in East Iceland (SSA) says that changing the Loftbrú subsidies from a percentage to a fixed króna amount is a reduction in quality of life in rural areas. He says the infrastructure minister’s remarks are out of touch with people’s reality.
The Vestmannaeyjar trawlers Vestmannaey VE and Bergey VE both landed in Neskaupstaður yesterday after short fishing trips. Both vessels had just under 50 tonnes after spending a little over two days fishing.
It is a busy time today, tomorrow and on Sunday at the Music Centre in Eskifjörður, where the staff of Iceland’s new National Opera are preparing their opening event, the work Undir sömu stjörnu, which is to be performed at 3 pm next Sunday. Well over a hundred people are involved in the large-scale production in one way or another.
The partnership between Fjarðabyggð, Höttur and Leiknir F., known as FHL, in women’s top-division football is now a thing of the past, as Höttur requested that the partnership be ended.
Jóna Árný Þórðardóttir, town manager and port director of Fjarðabyggð, was elected chair of the Icelandic Ports Association (Hafnarsamband Íslands) at the association’s annual congress, which ended today. She is also the first woman to serve as the association’s chair.
Höttur’s basketball department will receive support from the company Vörður tryggingar over the next three years, as the department’s main sponsor. Over the same period, Höttur’s home court at the Íþróttamiðstöð sports centre will be called Varðarhöllin.
Höttur from Egilsstaðir will field a team under its own name in the women’s Lengjudeild football league next season, after ending its partnership with Fjarðabyggð and Leiknir Fáskrúðsfjörður.
The Friends of the Old Church in Djúpivogur association will receive an annual grant of ISK 500,000 from Múlaþing over the next five years for the running and continued restoration of the old church.
Höttur rekstrarfélag, which runs the club’s men’s and women’s first teams in football, has asked to end its partnership with Knattspyrnufélag Austfjarða (KFA) on FHL, which plays in Lengjudeild kvenna, the women’s second tier.
East Iceland District Court has acquitted Fjarðabyggð of a claim by Hrefna Dagbjört Arnardóttir, owner of the farm Óseyri in Stöðvarfjörður, for recognition of the municipality’s liability for damages over livestock trespassing on the farm. Legal costs were waived. Hrefna demanded …
Little has changed in veterinary staffing in the southeast of the country. Shifts have not been filled since 16 August, all the way from Kirkjubæjarklaustur to Breiðdalsvík. The government has done nothing, says the chair of the veterinarians’ association.
Changes will be made to Loftbrú from the start of next year, when a fixed discount on airfares in krónur will be introduced in place of percentages as until now. The Minister of Infrastructure says they want to ensure predictability and keep the project within budget.
Sigþóra Brynja Kristjánsdóttir of UFA and Arnar Pétursson of Breiðablik became Icelandic champions in cross-country running in 2026.
Newly promoted Höttur have two wins under their belt after the first three rounds of the men’s Bónus-deild, after a deserved victory over ÍR in the east tonight.
The ptarmigan hunting season starts tomorrow in all parts of the country. Hunting is permitted from Friday through Tuesday for just under a month, or until Christmas where the season is longest. In South Iceland and Northwest Iceland hunting is allowed until 17 November, in the Westfjords a week longer, until 1 December in West Iceland and Northwest Iceland, and until 22 December in East Iceland. The ptarmigan population is considered strongest there. Hunting…
Höttur won an important victory over Stjarnan in the second round of the men’s Bónus-deild basketball league, in which a new record was set. Obie Trotter became the oldest player to score a three-pointer in the top division in Iceland.
Many are unhappy with the decision by Fjarðabyggð’s planning and construction committee to allocate a plot at Kvíabólsfjara in Neskaupstaður to a new party, after the group Bærinn okkar had been promised the same plot well beforehand and had spent considerable time designing a beautiful bathhouse there and creating good conditions for everyone who takes part in water sports of any kind.
Beitir NK brought 800 tonnes of herring to Neskaupstaður last night. Processing of the catch is expected to finish this evening.
There has been a lot going on at Norðfjarðarkirkja in recent days and weeks, and that continues tonight with a new event that the parish priest calls God on the Big Screen – the Bible’s stories of influence. The very first film to be watched and discussed is the popular but controversial Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
The band Nýdönsk had the unfortunate experience of taking a car by mistake at Egilsstaðir Airport earlier this month. The band had come east to play a concert in Breiðdalsvík and record songs.
Sighvatur GK landed about 75 tonnes in Djúpivogur after a fishing trip in rough weather. The catch came in four sets and was mostly cod.
Support for the Social Democratic Alliance in the Northeast constituency jumps in a new opinion poll. The support the Independence Party gained over the summer is reversed. Four parties are polling enough to win seats in the constituency.
Plans to merge the police districts of East Iceland, South Iceland and the Westman Islands raise serious questions about residents’ safety and the management of policing. Before going any further, the government must show how the changes are meant to improve services here in the east. A larger district is no guarantee of stronger policing.
Þróttur’s women’s volleyball team claimed their first win in the premier league this winter when they beat Þróttur Reykjavík/Blakfélag Hafnarfjarðar in a match that went to a deciding set on Saturday. The team turned a difficult position in the deciding set in their favour.
All seventeen sports and leisure clubs that applied to Fjarðabyggð for grants for their activities have now received allocations totalling ISK 32.5 million, divided among the clubs. The municipality’s total support for sports and leisure activities has increased by 8.4% from last year and now amounts to just under ISK 80 million this year.
The company Aurora Abalone (Sæbýli hf.) has completed an ISK 1.5 billion share capital increase to build up annual production of 100 tonnes.
The person charged with smuggling almost 43 kilos of cocaine, found in their car on arrival in Seyðisfjörður in March, said at the main hearing of the case today that they were none the wiser about the substances found. They could offer no explanation of how such a large quantity came to be carefully hidden in their van. At the time this was by far the largest amount of cocaine ever seized in Iceland, but the strength…
Síldarvinnslan has been processing herring almost continuously since 9 September. More than 9,000 tonnes remain to be caught and processed this season.
Gunnar Lárus Karlsson, who set an impressive new Icelandic record in the Backyard Ultra over the weekend, received a hero’s welcome when he returned home to Reyðarfjörður early this morning after representing Iceland at the Backyard Ultra World Championship, with the Icelandic team’s race held in Elliðaárdalur.
Fjarðabyggð and the company Tanni ferðaþjónusta have agreed to terminate their contract under which Tanni was to provide transport for the municipality’s schoolchildren for the rest of this school year. The reason is that Fjarðabyggð extended its contract with Tanni in good faith, when under the rules a tender should in fact have been held for school transport for the current school year.
Members of parliament and port authorities in Aberdeen, Scotland, have expressed interest in possible ferry sailings between the city and Seyðisfjörður. They hope, however, that the ferry could call at more places.
Gunnar Lárus Karlsson, who broke the Icelandic record in backyard ultra running in style, was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived home in Reyðarfjörður this morning.
Pétur Kristjánsson. For centuries, the residents of the fjord have lived with the many kinds of hazards that close coexistence with nature brings. The hazards are not confined to this fjord, however, and exist worldwide. It has been said that there is enough for everyone in the wor…
Plans to start ferry crossings between Aberdeen in Scotland and Seyðisfjörður are being considered. The Múlaþing municipal manager says, however, that it will be a long time before the idea becomes reality, if everything goes to plan.
The owner of the Óseyri farm near Stöðvarfjörður says all unfenced land in Iceland appears to have been subject to some form of expropriation by a court ruling in his case against Fjarðabyggð. The court found that the municipality had no obligation to round up trespassing sheep from the farm because the animals had come from a shared grazing area.
Plans to launch sailings between the city of Aberdeen in Scotland and Seyðisfjörður are being considered. The municipality is in talks with port authorities there.
The East Iceland Cancer Society is holding a pink event in Egilsstaðir tomorrow evening as part of the Icelandic Cancer Society’s awareness campaign. The East Iceland Cancer Society has received a good response to the campaign.