Greenland fishers struggle as Arctic warming melts vital sea ice

Wednesday 04 March 2026 - 14:00

By: Dakir Madiha

Greenland fishers struggle as Arctic warming melts vital sea ice

Fisherman Helgi Áargil says the waters of Greenland’s fjords have become increasingly unpredictable. Last year his boat became trapped in ice that broke away from a nearby glacier. This year the weather has been unusually wet. Some fishing trips bring him around 100,000 Danish kroner, about $15,700, while others produce no income at all.

Across Greenland, climate change is rapidly transforming the Arctic environment and threatening an economy heavily dependent on fishing. The sector accounts for as much as 95 percent of the territory’s exports, with major markets including China, the United States, Japan and European countries.

Traditional ice fishing communities have been among the hardest hit. Roughly half of Greenland’s local fishing industry historically relied on fishing directly from sea ice. That practice has become increasingly difficult as the ice thins and disappears.

Karl Sandgreen, director of the Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat, recalls that his father once fished from sea ice that was about 1.5 meters thick. According to Sandgreen, that stable ice began to vanish around 1997, forcing many fishermen to abandon ice fishing and switch to boats.

Using boats allows access to wider fishing grounds, but it also increases operating costs and environmental impacts. Toke Binzer, chief executive of Royal Greenland, the territory’s largest employer, said the shrinking ice cover is creating major challenges for traditional fishing.

Fishermen now face periods when conditions are neither safe for ice fishing nor suitable for navigation. Binzer described the situation as a growing structural problem for the industry.

The shift toward boat based fishing has also raised concerns about sustainability. Halibut caught near the coast have become noticeably smaller, which scientists say may indicate increasing pressure on fish stocks.

Boris Worm, a marine biodiversity expert at Dalhousie University in Canada, said shrinking fish size is a classic sign of overfishing. Warmer ocean conditions may initially boost fish stocks by increasing nutrients that support plankton growth, but shifting ecosystems could also make fish populations less predictable.

Climate data shows the scale of the environmental change. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Arctic Report Card, the Greenland ice sheet lost about 129 billion tonnes of ice in 2025, continuing a long term trend of net ice loss.

Rising temperatures are also pushing some species into deeper and colder waters, making them harder for coastal fishers to catch.

Despite the growing challenges, Greenland offers few economic alternatives outside the fishing industry. Tourism is expanding but remains a relatively small contributor to the local economy.

Standing aboard his boat near Nuuk, Áargil described the uncertainty confronting many fishers in simple terms.

“It’s getting too warm,” he said. “I don’t know where the fish are going, but there are not as many as before.”