– It has been a good winter. Good fishing and good prices, says Johansen, who comes from Havøysund on the Finnmark coast. A report to be presented today shows that there has been a large increase in the first-hand value, the payment fishermen receive when they sell their catch, over the past twenty years. – There has been quite a formidable increase. From 2000 to 2021, the first-hand value, adjusted for inflation, has risen by 60 per cent, says Roy Robertsen. Senior researcher Roy Robertsen has produced the report which shows that the profitability of the fisheries is increasing. Photo: Audun Iversen / DAM He is a project manager at Nofima. They have prepared the report together with Mecon Economics, commissioned by the fisheries and aquaculture industry. Record figures for seafood exports – even though salmon prices plummet The upturn continues They have found that NOK 23.9 billion worth of fish and shellfish were landed in 2021. This is an increase of NOK 1.1 billion from the previous year. And although the report does not deal with fishing this year, only until 2021, Roger Hansen, chairman of the Fiskarlaget Northern Norway, states that the upturn will continue. Leader Roger Hansen of Fiskarlaget Northern Norway says prices have caught up with the decline in quotas. Photo: Eirik Hind Sveen / news – The Norwegian fisherman has had a year this year which is definitely an “all time high”, says Hansen. This is despite the fact that less fish and shellfish are landed than before. From 2020 to 2021, the decrease was 1 per cent. The fisherman in Havøysund also experiences this. – We notice a decline in cod fishing. In the last two years it has been more difficult to get hold of the fish, says Joakim Johansen. Oslo boys take a “rest year” at a shrimp factory in Senja. King crab at 500 for the kilo. Fishermen’s team leader Roger Hansen believes they still get a good deal out of it. – The reason why the quantity has decreased is that the quotas have decreased. But the price in the market has caught up with the reduction in quotas – and rightly so, says Hansen. In addition to the fact that prices have risen steadily, the king crab in particular has become a very profitable part of the fishery. Without king crab, fishing would have been far less profitable for Joakim Johansen. Photo: Privat / Privat For Joakim Johansen, the king crab makes up two thirds of the year’s income. – I have one million just on the king crab. It has probably maintained a kilo price of NOK 500, says Johansen. More in the industry In total, Nofima and Mecon Economics calculate that 18,800 people work in the fisheries in Norway. 8,100 of these in supplier companies. – Employment in the whitefish industry is almost the highest it has been in twenty years, says Roy Robertsen. But how big an effect this has on the number of inhabitants up the coast is not entirely clear. – You would think that you prevent emigration by creating more jobs, especially from outlying municipalities, but unfortunately there is still a negative trend there. Especially in Troms and Finnmark, says Robertsen. Believes that ground rent tax can save the fishing industry
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