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Bærum and Oslo have greater value creation from fishing than the larger fishing villages of Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja.
EIGHT TONS: After a night and a day of fishing, fishermen can deliver eight tonnes of cod to the fish reception in Oldervik. Simon Haugen (left) and Johnny Iversen attach the hook to the ropes so that the fish can be unloaded ashore. PHOTO: RONALD JOHANSEN / ITROMSØ
– I’m not complaining, says fisherman Simon “Draugen” Haugen from the fishing village of Oldervik north of Tromsø.
He has a new boat and is fishing for 2.5 million crowns this year. It’s not so much, Haugen says, that he’s only called Draugen in the fishing village where he grew up on the pier with the fishing grounds off the coast. He has two uncles who are fishermen, one uncle who runs a fish farm and made plans for his own fishing boat when he was nine years old.
– Fishermen have an insane value creation. But there is a lot of work, we can work twenty-four hours a day. The boat owners have an incredible job, says Haugen.
“A lot of money”
Few others earn and create as much value per workplace as Norwegian fishermen. Each fishing industry employee contributes NOK 1.7 million in value creation, shows a new report from research institute Nofima and analysts at Menon. This is 63 percent higher than the industry average.
YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU ARE OLD: Fisherman Simon Draugen Haugen has worked day and night to raise money for his own fishing quota. PHOTO: RONALD JOHANSEN / ITROMSØ
– It’s good money, but it must be enough. I fish alone and have only a small quota of whip. Larger shipping companies with more fees keep a lot of money, Haugen says.
Fishing and processing of wild fish led to a net value creation of NOK 23 billion last year, according to the report. Researchers have analyzed the creation of value in the fishery, that is, the increase in value that occurs with a product. The creation of value is measured by considering the salaries of the employees, the profits of the owners and the taxes of the authorities.
– There is a great creation of value in the fisheries distributed along the coast. There is very good profitability and very good remuneration for the crew. And there is very high value creation compared to other industries on land, says researcher Audun Iversen.
At the Norway stop
Only employees in the oil and financial industry have as much value creation per workplace as the fishing industry. The sharp reduction in the number of fishermen and boats since the war is the reason for the increase in profitability per boat and per fisher. The operating margin of the fishing fleet has increased steadily over the past 30 years from seven percent in 1991 to 17 percent in 2018.
– Fewer boats and fewer fishermen have increased profitability, says Iversen, who is one of the three researchers behind the report.
INVESTIGATOR: Audun Iversen from Nofima in Tromsø is one of the three investigators behind the report. PHOTO: RONALD JOHANSEN.
There is a big difference between the biggest boats and the smallest ones. Large maritime trawlers had an operating margin of 22% last year, while the smallest sharks in the inshore fleet also earn only half, with an operating margin of 12%. The reason is that trawlers have been allowed to combine many more fishing quotas on one boat than smaller fishing boats have been allowed.
Seven good years
The fishing industry has been on an upward curve for the past seven years. Cod prices have tripled in the last seven years, from 13 to almost 40 crowns per kilo. This has led to more than fourfold investment in new boats in the last 10 years, from an annual level of 2 billion crowns in 2009 to 9 billion per year in the last two measured years, in 2017 and 2018.
A common fisherman earns an average of about a million crowns, the survey shows, while homeowners also get a large chunk of the pie. Of the value creation, a little more than half goes to employees, 40 percent as a benefit to owners and eight percent to state corporation tax.
Tromsø is still the municipality with the most fishermen, while Ålesund is the municipality with the highest value creation. In Ålesund, where most trawlers belong, value creation was NOK 2 billion last year, double that of Tromsø, which ranks fourth.
Bærum larger than the northern fishing villages
Bærum is the fifth largest fishing village in the country with one billion crowns in value creation from fishing, while Oslo is seventh with around 800 million crowns. There are three fishermen living in Bærum, but the municipality has a large part of the indirect value creation of Norwegian fishing from companies registered in Bærum.
– It was a bit surprising that Bærum got so high. They only have three fishermen, but we follow the values of the companies where they are registered, and then Bærum has a strong impact. Oslo has a high standard, because they have providers, among other things, in insurance, says Iversen.
– We found that the domino effects of fishing are spread over 350 municipalities in the country. Western Norway and Northern Norway dominate, he adds.
Bærum has a higher value creation from fishing than the larger fishing villages of Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja.
TRAVEL: Tromsø is one of the busiest fishing ports in the country. But the value creation of large trawlers ends up with large listed companies like Lerøy. Here is a trawler from Lerøy’s trawler company, Havfisk, on its way to deliver frozen fish to the Tromsø freezing terminal.
Myre, the cod capital of Norway in Øksnes municipality in Vesterålen, ranks sixth with 800 million, Svolvær in Vestvågøy municipality in Lofoten ranks eighth behind Oslo, while seafood municipality Senja finishes outside the top 10 with 500 million in value creation.
Ibestad is ranked 21, Alta in 34 and Skjervøy in 36 on the list.
Christmas halibut delivered
There are only 10,000 fishermen left in Norway, who caught and exported NOK 30 billion fish last year. Haugen has taken a Christmas vacation after delivering a large Christmas halibut ashore in his hometown. He is happy that fishermen are better off, because when he grew up he was warned not to become a fisherman.
FISHERMAN: Simon Haugen (26) is self-employed with his own fishing quota. PHOTO: RONALD JOHANSEN / ITROMSØ
– I’m in the start-up phase with a new boat. It has been good this year. It’s good that we have such a high value creation. When I was little, I was advised against becoming a fisherman, says Haugen.
– The best thing about being a fisherman is that you can control the working day yourself. You have a lot of free time. And that’s a decent income, he adds.
