Slaughter of catfish is no less a fertilizer than cow dung. This is shown by experiments that Matís made in collaboration with Atvinnuþróunarfélag Suðurlands, a fishing company in Þorlákshöfn and Sigurður Ágústsson, a farmer in Birtingarholt in Hrunamannahreppur.
Reportedly Ásbjörn Jónsson, project manager at Matís, experiments have been carried out by Landgræðsla ríkisins with the activity of fish manure as a soil fertilizer in comparison with various types of livestock manure such as horse manure, manure, chicken manure and synthetic fertilizers. According to Ásbjörn, tests carried out on areas without vegetation in Gunnarsholt in the spring of 2010 revealed that the fish log increased vegetation cover considerably compared to many types of organic fertilizer. Last summer, experiments were continued in collaboration with farmer Sigurður in Birtingarholt, but then cultivated fields were compared where on the one hand cow manure was used as fertilizer and on the other hand fish manure. After a two-month sprint, the hay obtained from the experimental fields was examined and the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content were compared, but these are the substances that are most important in organic fertilizers. The results showed that there was much more nitrogen content in hay obtained from plowed fields than from plots where manure was used as fertilizer. However, the phosphorus and potassium contents were similar in these fields.
Ásbjörn says that research on the utilization of fish catches has been carried out by Matís since 2010 and various experiments have been carried out which, among other things, aim to increase the shelf life of the catches, which annually generate around 2400 tonnes of fish catches in Þorlákshöfn. Until now, formic acid has mainly been used to increase the shelf life of fish fillets, but it is expensive and therefore people's eyes have been focused on whether it can be committed with skyrmys, but annually about 3 million liters of it fall at Mjólkurbúi flóamanna in Selfoss and is only part of it utilized. Experiments indicate that skyrmysa can be used to a large extent with formic acid for this purpose.
A similar collaboration has taken place between the Silfurstjörnan fish farm in Öxarfjörður, the University of Akureyri and Matís.