Bergþór Gunnlaugsson: The skipper who named the fishing grounds

Photo: Bergþór Gunnlaugsson in his living room. Photographer: Ann Elinor Jamtvoll Aasen

Ask around the harbours of Iceland about Bergþór Gunnlaugsson and people nod. He has been fishing for more than 40 years and has been a skipper since 2006. Today he runs Tómas Þorvaldsson GK 10, a 67-metre freezer trawler out of Grindavík.

I was honoured to be invited into his home, with Krummi the French bulldog keeping an eye on us, for a long conversation about his life at sea. At Catchwise, Bergþór is a skipper we all respect. When he tells us something should work differently, we listen. He is also the man behind naming the fishing grounds you see around Iceland in Catchwise.

Photo: Krummi, the French bulldog. Photographer: Ann Elinor Jamtvoll Aasen

At sea since 17

Bergþór grew up in Þingeyri, a small fishing village in the Westfjords. His father worked on longline boats, baiting the hooks before the lines were taken out to sea.

– As a boy I was always down where my father was working. When I was done with school and needed a job, I started at the local fish factory. From there, I went to sea.

He laughs when he tells it:

– And I have been there ever since.

He was 17 on his first trip, spending six days on a trawler out of Þingeyri. After four years at sea, he went to navigation school in Reykjavík before returning home to fish again.

In 1996, the fishing industry in Þingeyri went bankrupt.

– We lost everything. The ships, the quota, all of it.

When his trawler was sold to Grindavík, Bergþór went with it. He has lived there ever since.

Photos: A selection of photos from Bergþór’s life at sea, shared with us by Bergþór himself. He is an accomplished photographer and has spent years documenting fishing vessels, harbours and everyday life on the water. His work has been published in Morgunblaðið, The Sunday Telegraph and Fishing News International. Photos: Bergþór Gunnlaugsson

Reading the sea

For Bergþór, finding fish is about understanding what is happening in the water around him. Temperature, currents and weather all help build a picture of where the fish are likely to be.

Over the last six months, Catchwise has become part of how he reads that picture. He uses it to see which vessels are on the fishing grounds, check weather and currents for the days ahead, and look back through his own fishing history.

– All the information from the fishing diary is there. I can go and see where I was when I caught this species at this time of year.

One of the features he uses most is seabed temperature.

– Warmer sea, more haddock. Colder sea, more cod. The cold water pushes the fish. They follow the warmer water, so you look for where the temperature changes.

In Catchwise, he can switch between surface and seabed temperature and use a regional model for more detail in the waters he fishes. He can also focus on a specific area and temperature range, making the fronts he is looking for easier to spot.

Photo: Seabed temperature in Catchwise with the Arctic regional model, showing where colder and warmer water meet along the edge of the fishing grounds.

The names on the map

When Catchwise CEO Tomas asked Bergþór to help name the fishing grounds in Catchwise, he agreed and ended up spending far more time on it than we had expected. He worked through the map ground by ground, checking the names carefully, keeping the ones skippers actually use and removing those that didn’t belong, to make sure it was done properly.

Photo: The fishing grounds around Iceland in Catchwise, with the names Bergþór helped put on the map.

At IceFish this year, those names became a talking point on our stand. Visitors recognised the names they use at sea, and many found it funny that Bergþór was the one who had supplied them. But for him, there is a more practical reason for having the local names in the map.

Photo: At the Catchwise stand at IceFish 2026, showing Icelandic skippers how Catchwise works and how they can use it in their day-to-day fishing. Photographer: Ann Elinor Jamtvoll Aasen

– This is very good for a beginner. They have all the information in front of them, and they start using the right names for the places. It carries it from the old to the new.

For less experienced skippers and crew, having the local names directly in the map makes it easier to learn the language used at sea and pick up knowledge from those who have fished the grounds for years.

The names are also one example of how closely Bergþór works with us. He and Tomas chat regularly, discussing ideas, looking at new features and talking through what could make Catchwise more useful at sea.

– Everything I tell them, they take it seriously and see if they can make it possible in the system.

He likes being able to contribute ideas and help shape Catchwise into something that works better for both him and other skippers.

For Catchwise, having experienced skippers like Bergþór willing to share their knowledge, test ideas and give direct feedback is an invaluable part of making the product better for everyone.

The change that matters most

Having more data at your fingertips, including tools like Catchwise, has made parts of life as a skipper simpler. But some technological changes have mattered even more.

Bergþór has seen life at sea change a great deal since he was 17.

– When I started, there was no telephone. You called your family on the radio, and everyone could listen. The wives recorded TV programmes on video for us to take on board. When there was nothing to do, we played cards and chess.

Today, satellite internet keeps the boat connected almost all the time. Bergþór laughs:

– If the internet goes down, I’m the first to know. They call the bridge and ask: is something wrong with the internet?

For Bergþór, one of the biggest changes is what that means for life at home.

– The children grow up while the father is away. Now we are much more connected to our families than before.

It was a fitting reminder of how much life at sea has changed, both on board and at home. Thank you, Bergþór, for welcoming me into your home, sharing your stories and taking the time to show me how you fish and how you use Catchwise. And thank you to Krummi for keeping us company.

Curious to see the fishing grounds with Bergþór’s names, or to check the seabed temperature before your next trip? Get in touch below and we’ll set you up with a free trial of Catchwise.