Norwegian fisheries and the fish farming industry have been of great importance for Norway as a nation for centuries and will continue to be so in the future. But how we harvest from the sea has changed dramatically over the last decades.
In 1945 it was over 110.000 registered fishermen in Norway. Today that number is just above 10.000. In 1945 nobody along the coast of Norway made a living out of fish farming. Today about 55.000 works directly or indirectly in the seafood business in Norway, with about 34.000 related to fish farming.
For every full-time equivalent within the fisheries and fish farming industry, 1.1 full-time equivalents are created in other industries nationwide. Add others who delivers goods and services, the public services in the local communities, we can grasp the wider economic impacts the modern seafood industry has along the coast of Norway.
Lerøy Seafood Group is strongly involved in the local communities in the areas in which it operates, and aims to contribute to local incomes for these communities by purchasing local goods equipment and services wherever possible.
Lerøy Seafood Group's companies in Norway purchased goods, equipment and services totalling NOK 12.5 billion in 2017. The figures show that the Group purchased these goods, equipment and services from 287 different municipalities in Norway. In 2017, the Group had facilities located in close to 60 different Norwegian municipalities. Our employees contributed NOK 460 million in income tax to 257 different municipalities. Based on our activities over the past eight years, Lerøy Seafood Group has in total contributed more than NOK 3 billion in tax. As such, we make an important contribution towards sustaining a number of local communities and workplaces in many different parts of Norway.
Several municipalities are dependent upon the activity and jobs that are created and sustained with the help of the fisheries and fish farming industry. Local kindergartens and schools require teachers and personnel. New roads are built, and new technology developed, to mention only a few factors.
Local communities, previously facing the threat of rural depopulation, can now face the future with optimism. New jobs are being created not only in the fisheries and fish farming industry, but also in local and national businesses that supply products to our industry.