4.695 billion kroner will soon be distributed to municipalities and county municipalities with aquaculture operations through the Aquaculture Fund.
– This year’s payment is the largest since the establishment of the Aquaculture Fund. This is due to high prices in the auction of aquaculture permits, but also the measures the government has taken to ensure that the host municipalities retain a larger share of the value creation from the aquaculture industry, says Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Marianne Sivertsen Næss (Ap).
– We have always been clear that we will ensure that coastal communities benefit more from the gains when they make their natural resources available for the aquaculture industry. The Aquaculture Fund, and its structure, has been an important piece in this. Now we see clearly that the plan works. Today, the money is coming back to the coastal communities instead of large portions being sent out of the country as dividends, says Minister of Finance Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp).
143 municipalities and 8 county municipalities will receive their share of the payments shortly. You can find the distribution of the payment in the dropdown menu here:
Payments from the Aquaculture Fund 2024
About the Aquaculture Fund
The Aquaculture Fund distributes municipalities’ and county municipalities’ share of the income from the aquaculture industry. The Aquaculture Fund receives income from the sale of new licensing capacity for aquaculture. The government proposed in 2022 to increase the Aquaculture Fund’s share of the sales income from 40 percent to 55 percent, and the Parliament agreed to this. Additionally, the Aquaculture Fund is supplemented with funds from the production tax on fish farming. The distribution of payments is 20 percent to county municipalities and 80 percent to municipalities.
– The government has always said that host municipalities should benefit better after we implemented a ground rent tax on aquaculture. The result is that municipalities receive more money to provide welfare services for their residents, says the Minister of Fisheries and Ocean.
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries will execute the payments. This will happen as soon as possible, likely during October.
About the allocations from the Aquaculture Fund
- The Aquaculture Fund is not a fund in the traditional sense, but a set of distribution keys that allocate income from the aquaculture industry to municipalities and county municipalities with aquaculture operations.
- The Aquaculture Fund receives 55 percent of the income from the sale of new aquaculture permits, and the entire production tax on fish.
- Payments from the Aquaculture Fund are distributed with 80 percent to municipalities, and 20 percent to county municipalities with aquaculture operations.
- A portion of the municipalities’ share particularly benefits those municipalities that have facilitated aquaculture by allocating areas in 2023 to 2025. These municipalities will be favored in connection with the payment in 2025.
- Since the establishment of the Aquaculture Fund in 2017, a total of 15.7 billion kroner has been paid out to municipalities and county municipalities along the coast. This amount includes this year’s payment.