Four specialists from the Icelandic Marine Research Institute (Hafró) are currently in Kolgrafafjörður, West Iceland, the scene of the mass herring deaths, to carry out tests and attempt to direct the surviving herring out of the fjord with the use of low frequency sound.

The dead herring in Kolgrafafjörður. Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.

Further temperature, salinity and oxygen measurements of the water will be taken and an evaluation of the number of herring still alive will be carried out before the low frequency sound is used to push the fish out of the fjord tomorrow.

The sound is similar to what is used to repel whales and killer whales and will be used along with a special device used in geological research. Undersea cameras are also being used.

Manager of the marine resources division at the Marine Research Institute, Þorsteinn Sigurðsson, told ruv.is that there are likely more than 200,000 tons of living herring in the fjord.

As reported last week, clean-up of the dead herring is underway. The goal is to bury the herring before it starts rotting, adding to the already extensive amount of grútur, herring fat, which pollutes the beach.

The fish are believed to have died due to lack of oxygen in the fjord caused by a landfill and bridge constructed across the fjord in December 2004.

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ZR