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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Miranda Bryant in Reykjavík

‘Heartbreaking’: Iceland’s pioneering female fishing guides fear for wild salmon

Four young women aged between 15 and 21 sit in a pale blue wooden boat with one rowing; they all wear grey knitted jumpers with traditional-looking patterns and have long fair or light-brown hair
Sisters Alexandra and Andrea Ósk Hermóðsdóttir (from left), and their friends Áslaug Anna and Arndís Inga Pétursdóttir, fish on the Laxá River in Aðaldalur, Iceland. They are featured in an upcoming film, Strengur, directed by Gagga Jónsdóttir. Photograph: Sigga Ella/The Guardian

For seven generations, Andrea Ósk Hermóðsdóttir’s family have been fishing on the Laxá River in Aðaldalur. Iceland has a reputation as a world leader on feminism, but until recently women have not been able to work as guides to wild salmon fishing for visiting anglers – a job that has traditionally been the preserve of men.

The 21-year-old engineering student, her sister Alexandra Ósk, 16, and their friends Arndís Inga Árnadóttir, 18, and her sister Áslaug Anna, 15, are now the first generation of female guides on their river in northern Iceland, and among the very first female fishing guides in the country.

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