Herring Factory Ingólfsfjörður
THE ABANDONED FACTORY IN ICELAND
This herring factory in Ingólfsfjörður, a fjord north from Djúpavík in the far north of Iceland, was built in 1943. Eventually the factory was closed in 1952.
The main landmarks of the Ingólfsfjörður fjord are the three mountains Kálfatindur, Eyrarfell and Glyssa, and of course this old deserted Herring Factory. The factory was constructed by the company Ingólfur hf in 1943. The main reason why the factory was built was because of the growing herring stock coming in to Húnaflói bay. But soon after construction, the herring catches declined and the factory was closed in 1952.
The factory processed the herring to make fish meal and oil. Fish meal is mostly made from fish that are not used for human consumption and is generally used to feed farm animals in agricultural setting. The herring oil was filtered to extract the water and then stored in large heated tanks just outside the factory. I visited the ‘Herring Factory Ingólfsfjörður’ in 2008 during my Iceland road trip. More abandoned locations in Iceland can be found here.
