Overview
About Siglufjordur
Growth and the end of the herring era
A small community with strong Norwegian connections expanded rapidly in the early twentieth century and received town rights in 1918. Herring fishing and processing made it one of Iceland's major ports. Repeated poor seasons weakened the industry during the 1950s; the final northern fishing season came in 1964, and the wider herring boom ended in 1968. Trawler operations and other fish processing subsequently helped rebuild employment.
The workers behind the industry
Róaldsbrakki, a Norwegian salting station built in 1907, preserves quarters used by women employed in herring processing, alongside commercial offices. It forms part of the Herring Era Museum. The Grána exhibition explains another branch of production: turning fish into meal and oil. Together these buildings distinguish the labour of preparing salted herring from the machinery of industrial reduction, showing how several workplaces depended on the same catch.
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