Búðardalur

Icelandic authorities report that 7 of 22 salmon submitted for testing were confirmed as farmed escapees, caught in several North/West Iceland rivers. Tracing suggests six fish share a common origin in Dýrafjörður; investigations continue and anglers are asked to turn in suspect fish whole for analysis.

Severe winds on the Holtavörðuheiði pass in Húnaþing Vestra, Iceland, blew apart three caravans, prompting a multi-hour rescue response by the Húnar Hvammstanga search and rescue team.

An inspector from the Icelandic Fisheries Agency counted around 100 farmed salmon in the lower section of Haukadalsá, marking the largest occurrence of escaped farmed salmon in an Icelandic river, and plans are underway for removal operations including using anglers and Norwegian divers.

In West and Southwest Iceland, rainfall has been less than 10% of the average for July and early August. Rivers and streams have been shrinking and even drying up entirely following several weeks with little to no rainfall in Iceland.

Two Risso’s dolphins washed ashore in Hrútafjörður in Northwest Iceland last week. Risso dolphins are a warm-water species found a bit to the east of Ireland and Northwest Scotland. But the largest number is found further south, in warmer seas.

Fifty pilot whales were found dead on the shore of Löngufjörur in a sparsely populated part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula on Thursday, RÚV reports.

Sheep, primarily ewes and their lambs, have died in great numbers this past lambing-season. The cause has yet to be determined, and farms all around Iceland appear to be affected.

A temporary bridge in Borgarfjörður, Iceland, collapsed after an ice jam in the Hvítá River caused significant flooding.