Grimur Valdimarsson is the Director of the Fish Products and Industry Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), at the Rome headquarters, since 1997. The Division is one of three divisions of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of FAO. The Division is responsible for activities relating to fish production, utilization and trade, safety of products, appropriate technologies for capturing fish, monitoring of fishing vessels and safety of fishermen. Prior to joining FAO, he was Director of the Icelandic Fisheries Laboratories, a Government Institute dealing with all aspects of fish processing. Grimur Valdimarsson holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Iceland (1973) and a Ph.D. in Marine Microbiology from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland (1977).