Exploitation of Atlantic Salmon in Iceland

Abstract

Iceland is an island in the North Atlantic situated between 63° 30′ and 24° 32′ W longitude and between 13° 30′ and 24° 32′ W longitude. It covers an area of 103,000 km². The climate is cool, temperate and oceanic with rapid changes. The summers are cool but the winters are relatively warm. There are only five species of fish living partly or wholly in freshwater native to the country. These are the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), the sea trout (Salmo trutta L.) as well as a land-locked variety, the brown trout, the sea charr (Salvelinus alpinus L.) and land-locked variety, the lake charr, the European eel (Auguilla anguilla L.) and the three spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.).