Why The Nauteyri Project matters

The Nauteyri Project has three purposes: economic revival, environmental protection and social development. Iceland’s national broadcaster RÚV recently showed an illuminating programme on the massive problems of the Westfjords and it made us more determined than ever to actually do something….with your help!

RÚV also reported on its evening news (just before the above-mentioned programme started) that the Westfjords has the lowest unemployment rate in Iceland; but added that that’s because the number of people moving away is also by far the highest. In fact, we have lost 1,300 people in 13 years and now have only 7,100 left in the entire region — this beautiful, culturally distinct and historically important part of the country with so much still in its favour.

The region’s problems are likely twofold: an over-reliance on fishing and an image problem. People think it is boring to live in the Westfjords and that the transport links are too poor. There is probably something to this last point, in all fairness. However, fully tarmacked roads and new bridges and tunnels mean that the trip to Reykjavik has never been quicker or safer and the winter snow ploughing means that any car can make the trip on most days of the year. And that’s not even mentioning the 35 minute flights that operate twice or more per day (weather permitting).

We feel that The Nauteyri Project can help to address both these problems. It has nothing to do with fishing and is anything but boring. It is our intention to bring people to the Westfjords all year round and to include locals in every way possible. Our interesting range of courses, lectures and exhibitions will hopefully make a noticeably positive difference to life in the area. And, of course, the more successful we are, the more jobs we can create.

If you speak Icelandic, check out the first seven-and-a-half minutes of this video.

Also, you might like to read this in Icelandic. An English translation is below:

“According to official figures, unemployment in the Westfjords is the lowest in the country. At the same time, people are leaving this region in the highest numbers.

“Þorsteinn Bragi Jónínuson moved away from Súðavík 13 years ago. Since then, the number of Westfjordians has dropped by 1,300. All the same, unemployment is the lowest there. The newest figures show that roughly 150 people are out of work in the Westfjords. But the number of residents keeps on falling. Those who move away have sometimes lost their jobs, or move away to study and never come back again.

“Þorsteinn says he would love to get a good job in the Westfjords with similar wages. In that case, his wife would need to have something to do there too. In those circumstances he would be very much willing to move home to Súðavík.

“Vífill Karlsson, economist, says that Westfjordians are probably wrestling with an image problem after everything that has happened. The distances are long and fewer Icelanders travel to the Westfjords each year. In those circumstances people build an opinion based on rumour and information gleaned from the media, he says.”

This is a shame, because what make the Westfjords such an exciting and refreshing place that everybody should consider visiting, are precisely the sort of things that will never make it into the news.

Þorsteinn later said, when interviewed for the Landinn programme, that what he misses about the Westfjords is how everybody can really be somebody there and if something needs doing, people just do it themselves. This is also a bad thing though, he reasoned; because if you don’t do things yourself, they simply don’t get done. The Nauteyri Project aims to be living proof of this ‘good-and-bad’ aspect of the Westfjords!

Remember, the “DONATE TO THE NAUTEYRI PROJECT” link is now active again!

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