Nordic Council of Ministers fishermen coastal Nordic and salary of 2017:558 Employment TemaNord Nordens Hus Ved Stranden 18 DK-1061 Copenhagen K www.norden.org EMPLOYMENT AND SALARY OF NORDIC COASTAL FISHERMEN Fishers are often perceived to be poor, and low income levels are used to justify subsidies and other types of direct and indirect income support to maintain coastal communities. In this study we investigate fishers’ income levels in four Nordic countries; Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden for different types of fishers and vessels and in comparison to alternative occupations. The most important result is that fishers in these countries are doing relatively well, and only in Sweden is the fishers’ average income level below the average national income. Within the fleets, there are substantial differences. Owners of coastal vessels tend to have the lowest income, and also lower than crews. Owners as well as crews on larger vessels tend to do much better and in the largest fishing nations, Iceland and Norway, very well. EMPLOYMENT AND SALARY OF NORDIC COASTAL FISHERMEN Employment and salary of Nordic coastal fishermen Max Nielsen, Ayoe Hoff Rasmus Nielsen, Staffan Waldo, Johan Blomquist, Frank Asche, Ole Bergesen, Jónas R. Viðarsson, Sigridur Sigurðardóttir and Ragnheiður Sveinþórsdóttir TemaNord 2017:558 Employment and salary of Nordic coastal fishermen Max Nielsen, Ayoe Hoff Rasmus Nielsen, Staffan Waldo, Johan Blomquist, Frank Asche, Ole Bergesen, Jónas R. Viðarsson, Sigridur Sigurðardóttir and Ragnheiður Sveinþórsdóttir ISBN 978-92-893-5190-4 (PRINT) ISBN 978-92-893-5191-1 (PDF) ISBN 978-92-893-5192-8 (EPUB) http://dx.doi.org/10.6027/TN2017-558 TemaNord 2017:558 ISSN 0908-6692 Standard: PDF/UA-1 ISO 14289-1 © Nordic Council of Ministers 2017 Cover photo: unsplash.com Print: Rosendahls Printed in Denmark Disclaimer This publication was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. However, the content does not necessarily reflect the Nordic Council of Ministers’ views, opinions, attitudes or recommendations. Rights and permissions This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0. Translations: If you translate this work, please include the following disclaimer: This translation was not pro- duced by the Nordic Council of Ministers and should not be construed as official. 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You are responsible for determining whether there is a need to obtain per- mission for the use of third-party content, and if so, for obtaining the relevant permission from the copyright holder. Examples of third-party content may include, but are not limited to, tables, figures or images. Photo rights (further permission required for reuse): Any queries regarding rights and licences should be addressed to: Nordic Council of Ministers/Publication Unit Ved Stranden 18 DK-1061 Copenhagen K Denmark Phone +45 3396 0200 [email protected] Nordic co-operation Nordic co-operation is one of the world’s most extensive forms of regional collaboration, involving Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. Nordic co-operation has firm traditions in politics, economics and culture and plays an important role in European and international forums. The Nordic community strives for a strong Nordic Region in a strong Europe. Nordic co-operation promotes regional interests and values in a global world. The values shared by the Nordic countries help make the region one of the most innovative and competitive in the world. The Nordic Council of Ministers Nordens Hus Ved Stranden 18 DK-1061 Copenhagen K, Denmark Tel.: +45 3396 0200 www.norden.org Download Nordic publications at www.norden.org/nordpub Contents Preface ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Summary...................................................................................................................................7 Introduction.........................................................................................................................7 Sweden ...............................................................................................................................7 Denmark ............................................................................................................................ 8 Norway............................................................................................................................... 9 Iceland ...............................................................................................................................10 Cross-country comparison ................................................................................................. 11 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................... 13 2. Salary and employment in Swedish coastal fisheries .......................................................... 17 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 17 2.2 Framework conditions for the Swedish coastal fisheries .......................................... 17 2.3 The dataset ............................................................................................................ 19 2.4 Salary and employment in Swedish fisheries .......................................................... 20 2.5 Salary and employment in Swedish coastal versus large-scale fisheries .................. 24 2.6 Why do fishermen exit? .......................................................................................... 29 2.7 Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 36 3. Salary and employment in Danish coastal fisheries ............................................................ 37 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 37 3.2 Framework conditions for the Danish coastal fisheries ............................................ 37 3.3 The dataset ............................................................................................................ 40 3.4 Salary and employment for Danish coastal fishermen ............................................ 42 3.5 Why do coastal fishermen exit? .............................................................................. 49 3.6 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 57 4. Salary and employment in Norwegian fisheries ................................................................. 59 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 59 4.2 Framework conditions for the Norwegian fisheries ................................................. 59 4.3 The dataset ............................................................................................................ 63 4.4 Salaries and employment in the Norwegian fisheries .............................................. 65 4.5 Why do fishermen exit? .......................................................................................... 68 4.6 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 73 5. Salary and employment in Icelandic coastal fisheries ......................................................... 75 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 75 5.2 Framework conditions for the Icelandic coastal fisheries.......................................... 75 5.3 The dataset ............................................................................................................. 77 5.4 Salary and employment in Icelandic fisheries........................................................... 78 5.5 Entry and exit of coastal fishermen? ....................................................................... 86 5.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 87 6. Cross-country comparison of salary, employment and reasons for fishermen exit ............. 89 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 89 6.2 Salary and employment ........................................................................................