Number of fishing industry jobs halved since 1985

There were 2,000 fewer workers in the fishing industry last year than 35 years ago

Of the 2,782 people currently working in the fishing industry, 1,441 work on land and 1,341 at sea. Graph: Sjókovin

23.04.2021 - 14:30

The number of workers in the Faroese fishing industry has been on a steady decline over the past 30-40 years, and the number of jobs has halved since the mid-1980s.

This is one of the key statistics in an annual report on the fishing industry compiled by marine research institute Sjókovin.

Skyrocketing exports

Meanwhile, the export value of fish products has increased significantly over this period.

For example, the export value of mackerel increased from DKK 25 million in 1993 to DKK 1.7 billion in 2020, and the export value of salmon went from DKK 500 million in 1993 to DKK 3.3 billion in 2020.

Sex distribution

Most inland fish production workers are based in Eysturoy, Suðuroy and Norðoyggjar, and the sailors are predominantly based in Norðoyggjar and Eysturoy.

While most of the sailors are men, the sex distribution is more even in the inland fish production industry.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

Translated by prosa.fo

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