Seafood sector unhappy with Norwegian government budget

The Norwegian government’s budget, which was announced yesterday, has done little for the seafood industry or for the country. So says the employers’ organisation Seafood Norway, which represents both aquaculture and fishing.

Seafood Norway chief executive Geir Ove Ystmark said the industry had hoped for a tighter budget, but there was still too much dependence on oil money when the country needed to move away from this strategy.

Ystmark said: “We needed an economic policy that facilitates more jobs and value creation, but this budget proposal is only about how the cake will be distributed, and not about how it will be baked larger.”

Seafood Norway’s Communications Director Kristin Langeland, said the proposals would not contribute towards value creation.

Langeland said the government reiterates that they work for “good framework conditions for work, investment and value creation throughout the country., but what was being proposed would produce the opposite.

She also pointed out that fish farming companies had been forced to spend large sums on consultancy fees since the introduction of the ground rent tax (also known as the “salmon tax”).

Geir Ove Ystmark, CEO Seafood Norway

Among the Labour-Centre Party coalition government proposals was a sum of NOK 1.2 billion (£86m) from the National Fisheries Fund towards local authority amenities.

But the government is again increasing production tax for salmon and trout which has now more than doubled in two years. The production tax differs from the ground rent tax which is a new levy on the industry.

However, the budget includes funds for investment in researching sustainable feed and in the development of new aquaculture-related technology.

And the government said it would follow up a parliamentary request to investigate the much-criticised salmon “traffic light system” which permits or restricts new farm applications by region.

But the coalition is insisting that environmental issues must first be properly investigated for two years before it can assess the system’s impact on salmon licence auctions.

(Main picture: the Norwegian Parliament).