– That asking a female inspector to dance is sexual harassment is completely idiotic, says Svein Magne Mienna. At the end of March, he was fined NOK 12,000 in the Vestre Finnmark District Court, for breaching section 156 of the Criminal Code, for harassing two female fisheries inspectors. They came to his job at Nergård’s fish reception in Breivikbotn on Sørøya a little more than a year ago. It was Fiskeribladet that first mentioned the case. And according to the verdict, Mienna said that the fisheries inspectors should jump on board the fishing boat that was lying at the quay, and contribute to better catches. Here the court believes that Mienna alluded to the myth of “haill”. This means that if you have sex before you go out to sea, you will have better fishing luck. He also asked the inspectors to swing dance with him. It happened, according to Mienna, when he asked one of the inspectors to move when he was driving a truck. – She didn’t and I asked her to move again, but she didn’t care. Then I say nonchalantly “shall we have a dance”. I cannot understand that it is sexual exploitation, he says. – Asking for a dance and talking about “haill” is how we have talked for thousands of years up here in Finnmark. If they don’t understand this language, which is spoken both on the boat and on the quay, then they have to find something else to do, says Mienna. Mienna has decided to appeal the sentence. Important judgment – This type of statement, which on its own may seem quite harmless, meant that they experienced being reduced to just “a hoggen on the quay”, instead of being recognized as fisheries inspectors. That’s according to Hugo Henstein, the first state prosecutor in the Troms and Finnmark state prosecutor’s offices. He was the prosecutor in the criminal case, and says this made their job more difficult to carry out. And that the hanging made the inspectors try to avoid this fish reception. PREVENTIVE: The prosecutor in the criminal case and the first state attorney in Troms and Finnmark, Hugo Henstein, hopes that this judgment can act as a preventive measure, so that more women can apply and stay in the profession without being met with harassment. Photo: Petter Strøm / news – It was typical that this was not behavior they would encounter if they got together with a male fisheries inspector, he says. Frank Bakke-Jensen, director of the Directorate of Fisheries, also thinks so. He says it is the first time they have received a verdict in such a case, and that they spent some time deciding whether to go to trial or not. – It is burdensome to speculate whether we should accept this, or whether we should give notice that such comments are not desirable. Then we had to spend some time weighing up and down. Fortunately, I think we can say, then we agree that we don’t want the working day to be like that, he says. – For us, this is an important judgment. He takes us one step further for a better working day. He emphasizes that there are many serious players in the industry who take such things seriously. With this judgment, they will shed light on the problem of public servants not being seen as such, but seen as women in certain environments, believes Bakke-Jensen. – We too often have cases of unacceptable behavior and we must be completely honest that a few years ago we had employees who tolled much more than they should have tolled. But we will try to get it corrected, he says. Svein Magne Mienna is disappointed that the case is still in court. – I think it is ridiculous to spend money from the Norwegian state on a trifle. It’s not banning once. Saying hello or asking for a dance, they must be able to handle that in that position, he says. PROUD: – I am very proud of the employees who took the burden of standing in this, because it is not always that simple. Here, there are tough inspectors who take a toll on the industry, says Frank Bakke-Jensen in the Directorate of Fisheries. Photo: Jørn Inge Johansen / news
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Convicted of sexual harassment of two female fisheries inspectors – news Nordland
