History

Board of directors

Employees

Shareholders

The founding and development of Fiskey
Fiskey was founded at Hjalteyri in Eyjafjörður 28 May 1987. There were 30 founding partners in the company, among them district councils, companies and individuals. The first year was used for the purpose of research and preparations for the prospective halibut farming. There was research into environmental aspects of seawater in Eyjafjörður, such as temperature, salinity and oxygen as well as species composition and the distribution of animal plankton in the fiord. Conditions in Hjalteyri were also examined, for example with regard to the development of halibut juvenile production. Finally small halibut were gathered, of an average weight of 1.5 kg in order to find out how they fared in the conditions of Eyjafjörður. After this preliminary research had been completed and the results had been presented at the company's general meeting in June 1988, it was decided to begin the production of halibut juveniles.

The objective was to develop methods for the mass production of juveniles and be among the group of pioneering companies on a world-wide scale in the marketing of farmed halibut. Subsequently, part of an old abandoned herring factory in Hjalteyri was purchased. Large scale improvements were carried out on the premises which now accommodates the company's growout station. The first juveniles were produced by Fiskey in 1990 and at that time the company was among the first in the world to produce halibut juveniles on a fish farm. The methods which had been developed in Norway and were first regarded as a model with regard to the feeding of halibut larvae were, however, found to be unsuitable. Thus, the development of new techniques was initiated which among other things has placed the company in the forefront group among all companies in the world which produce halibut juveniles.

The operation of Fiskey was characterised by research and development until the end of the past decade when the largest obstacles in the juvenile production had been overcome. The first production batch of farmed halibut was sold in 1999 and then it could be said that all the objectives that were established for the company in 1988 had been achieved. It was, among other things, because of this success that Fiskey was awarded the Innovation Prize of the Icelandic Research Council and the Icelandic Export Council in 2001. Fiskeldi Eyjafjarðar was awarded this prize for years of research culminating in the successful production of farmed halibut. In addition the Industrial Committee of Akureyri Municipality selected Fiskey as the company of the year 2000. Ólafur Halldórsson, then the managing director of the company also received special recognition for his work at the company.

The development of Fiskey
The company has been built up at an even and steady rate and the knowledge and skill possessed within the enterprise has grown in step with its increased operation. The company's research for many years is now proving its worth in the increased production of juveniles and farmed halibut for export. In 2001 the ratio of Fiskey in the world production of halibut juveniles was about 35% according to an estimate by SINTEF (Description of the production technology and production results of halibut fry at Fiskey, Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning ved Norges Tekniske Högskole, 2002.) There are a total of about 25 juvenile stations in Norway, Scotland and Canada.

Board of directors
The board of directors is as follows:

Kristján Ragnarsson - Chairman of the Board
Gunnar Karl Guðmundsson - Co-director
Jón Kjartan Jónsson - Co-director
Óttar Már Ingvason- Co-director
Þorsteinn Vilhelmsson - Co-director
Jón Hallur Pétursson - Deputy Director
Jóhannes Kristjánsson - Deputy Director

Employees

Fiskey's managing director is Arnar Jónsson. He has been an employee at Fiskey since 1991 and managing director of Fiskey since 2002.  Arnar completed his degree of B.Sc. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina in 1990. Tel: +354 462 7489. Mobile: +354 863 1510. E-mail: arnar.jonsson@fiskey.is

Fiskey's research and development manager is Heiðdís Smáradóttir. She has worked with Fiskey as research and development manager from the year 2000.  Heiðdís worked at the University of Akureyri during spring term 2000 and was in temporary employment during the summer at Fiskey in 1995-1999.  She taught at the University of Iceland 1997-2000. Heiðdís completed her M.Sc. degree in Biophysics from the University of Iceland in the year 2000 and her degree of B. Sc. in Biology from the University of Iceland in 1996. Tel.: +354 462 7489. Mobile: +354 891 7960. Email: heiddis@fiskey.is

Personnel
To a great extent, Fiskey  owe their success in the farming of halibut juveniles and marketable fish to forward-looking and dependable employees.

Fiskey's employees have considerable experience in aquaculture and have on average worked at the company for 7 years. The knowledge and experience of staff is important for the operation of the company.


At the broodstock farm in Dalvík there are 2 employees:
Óli Þór Jóhannsson, site manager - olithor@fiskey.is
Elvar Þór Antonsson

At the hatchery in Hjalteyri there are 5 employees:
Heiðdís Smáradóttir, Research and Development manager - heiddis@fiskey.is
Steindór Helgason, Technical manager - steindor@fiskey.is
Jón Þór Brynjarsson, foreman - jonni@fiskey.is
Ingvar Stefánsson
Jón Þór Benediktsson

Shareholders

The number of shareholders in Fiskey is aproximately 150.  The ten largest own almost 89,9% of the company's stock. These are (august 2005):