I have a couple of questions which aren’t really world-moving but are perfect for a lazy Thursday. Here they go:
1. [This Wikipedia Article on Eldfell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldfell#Heimaey_since_the_eruption) mentions that “[Heimaey] today remains the most important fishing centre in the nation, as over a third of Iceland’s total fish catch is from this harbour.” I couldn’t find any national statistics with catch separated by region, is this (still) true?
2. Instead, on [this page from Statistics Iceland](https://i.postimg.cc/xTj4Fnjs/Screenshot-2023-01-26-at-19-49-08.png) (*) there are several macro-areas, but “Other Areas” makes up 1/3 of the total catch. Any idea what it relates to?
3. The [CIA World Factbook](https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iceland/#economy) lists “aircraft” as a commodities export, but there are no aircraft imports nor does there seem to be any Icelandic aircraft industry. What gives?
TIA!
(*) [Source](https://px.hagstofa.is/pxen/pxweb/en/Atvinnuvegir/Atvinnuvegir__sjavarutvegur__aflatolur__fiskveidisvaedi/SJA09002.px/table/tableViewLayout1/?rxid=f8bfd7f6-f3e0-4021-841d-68cc12d2bdff) – [select each fishing area and top of the remaining columns](https://i.postimg.cc/rmKStZqN/Screenshot-2023-01-26-at-19-53-43.png).
4 comments
1. I’ve heard that mentioned before. I see that this line has [citation needed] on Wikipedia. Also bear in mind that Heimaey is the last port in Iceland ships call at before heading to foreign ports so that may skew the statistics somewhat.
2. Since the Area column lists “Icelandic grounds”, “Barents Sea”, “Flemish cap”, “Norwegian fishing zone” and “Russian fishing zone” I’d guess that “Other areas” means none of the areas mentioned. As a guess I’d say it relates to fishing near the Faroes or Greenland.
3. No idea about the aircraft. But I did notice that WOWAIR went bankrupt in 2019, and the commodities export list is from 2019. Maybe for some damn strange reason those are related.
I’m guessing the aircraft export is because one of the major FOREX importers are the airlines and Aviation maintenance companies in Keflavík, which sell services to every Foreign airline that operates flights here
Remember imports and exports and measured in Monetary Value, not by number or weight and because this is Foreign money entering the economy despite being spent on services here, instead of moving product overseas, it is an export.
No idea on the fish stuff, I’m more into flight
Aircraft are frequently leased out of Iceland by companies like Icelandair and Air Atlanta. Icelandair has long term contracts with companies like Nat Geo/Disney, and are currently in the process of modernizing their fleet, which means selling dated aircraft and acquiring new ones. A Boeing 757 is still an expensive thing to sell at the end of the day.
Air Atlanta mostly leases aircraft in the middle east, and I imagine they do the same selling of aircraft.
On the third point.
There is a very successful company here most people have never heard of which acts as a aircraft spare parts intermediary/broker.
How much of that hardware actually goes through here on its way between the Americas and Europe I couldn’t possibly comment on, but I suspect quite a bit.