The islands sit above the Arctic Circle, strung along the Norwegian coast like a broken wall. Every winter the skrei — mature cod that live in the Barents Sea — swim south to spawn in the warmer water the Gulf Stream pushes against these shores. They have done it for as long as anyone has counted, and the islands have met them for nearly as long.
What is caught, and how
Skrei, from January to April, at the height of their condition. Longline and gillnet from boats that now carry echo sounders and once carried sails. The fish is split, salted or hung unsalted on wooden racks called hjell, where cold dry wind does the rest over three months. What comes down in June is stockfish — the same product Viking crews took to sea, and still, by weight, one of Norway’s oldest exports.
The racks stand empty most of the year, grey timber frames on bare ground, and they are the most photographed thing on the islands after the mountains.