The Norwegian seafood industry – Importance for the national economy

Abstract

Harvesting, processing, and exporting of seafood are longheld traditions in Norway due to its vast marine resources. In the 1970s, Norway became an international leader in marine aquaculture. The seafood industry is of great importance to the Norwegian economy. This paper documents the seafood industry's direct and indirect effects on Norway's economy from 2004 to 2017. We use a national Input–Output model to quantify to what extent the Norwegian seafood industry has created appreciable effects both in the core industries of the value chain, as well as in the supplier industries and other industries through ripple effects. The total contribution is measured in terms of value added (contribution to GNP) and employment (FTE). We find particularly high growth in total value added generated by the seafood industry during the period. However, within the seafood industry, there are different trends associated with development for the value chain of fisheries and aquaculture. The value chain for aquaculture, which includes its impacts on other industries, is the fastest growing part of the seafood value chain, while fisheries show a more moderate growth. Hence, aquaculture became the dominant part of the Norwegian seafood value chain from 2010 to 2013 and onwards measured in value-added and employment, respectively.