Like many of you we have been watching the travelling situation develop over the last few months and wondering if the salmon fishing season will be able to progress. With the Russian and Norwegian season already closed and rolled over, we did not have too much hope for Iceland. This changed dramatically when the Icelandic Prime Minister announced that the country would be opening on the 15th June which is very encouraging and big step in the right direction. So how are they intending to make this work?
At this point the finer details have not been published, but the way we understand their proposal is the presentation of a Covid-19 negative test certificate on arrival into Iceland. You will have to be tested and have the results within three days from arrival into Iceland and this will need to be issued by your doctor, hospital or an institute accepted by the Icelandic Authorities. Again, what this constitutes has not been released yet.
If you don’t have a certificate, then you will be tested at the airport which you will have to pay for. Again, there are no specifics as to how much this test will cost, although speculation seems to be somewhere between £150 – £200. On completion of the test you will need to go to a hotel for the afternoon and wait for the results and if negative, download their Rakning C-19 app and proceed to your lodge. If you test positive you will have to remain in quarantine for the next 14 days in a hotel at your own expense before flying home. On arrival back in the UK, based on current guidelines, you will have to be quarantined for a further two weeks.
At this point it is also unclear as to which airlines will be flying to Iceland. British Airways has cancelled a huge number of their flights and so has Iceland Air. The other consideration we need to highlight is currently the UKs guidelines are still for no non-essential travel outside the UK and you will have to check with your insurance provider whether your policy does still cover you.
These are the facts as we see them right now. We all know the situation is extremely fluid and may change over the next few weeks. We also understand that for some, regardless of the physical ability to get to Iceland somehow it might not be practical for those with businesses or those who are shielding. We continue to negotiate with the various leaseholders to come up with some alternative options for them and over the course of the next two weeks will be in contact with all our Iceland clients to present those options and help in anyway we can. We will continue to report on developments as they occur.
For more details on fishing in Iceland please do not hesitate to contact Peter McLeod or call our office on +44(0)1980 847389.