Increase in people professionally fishing for the first time in 14 years

Norwegian fishermenSENJA. Norwegian fishermen. Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB scanpix

For the first time since 2002 there is an increase in the number of full-time fishermen. The increase from 2015 to 2016 was 174 fishermen.

At the end of 2016 there was 11,244 fishermen registered in the registry kept by the Directorate of Fisheries. Of these people, 9,433 are fishing as their main occupation and 1811 are fishing as a part time occupation.

The number of full-time fishers has decreased by 53 percent since 1990. Last year was a rare exceptional year of growth. From 1990 until today, this has only happened in 2002 and in 1999.

– This shows that our industry is interested in growing. We also find that more people are interested in becoming fishermen.

Profitability has gone up. The fishing profession is an exciting industry where we harvest resources with a perspective on the future, says the head of the Norwegian Fishermen, Kjell Ingebrigtsen, to news agency NTB.

He especially likes that the proportion of young fishermen is again on the rise. 19 percent of fishermen are now under 30 years, and 22 percent are older than 60.

– There are more young people who want to be vessel owners, and there are several that aim to be crew. The fact that young people are entering the industry is welcome, said the fishery leader.

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today

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