Summary of the issue:
– This year’s payout is the largest since the Aquaculture Fund was established. It is incredibly pleasing. I can say that, also as the mayor of Hammerfest, which has worked closely with the industry, says Minister of Fisheries and Ocean, Marianne Sivertsen Næss (Ap).
This year, the state is paying out 3.7 billion krone to municipalities from the Aquaculture Fund. This is one billion more than in 2022, setting a new record. A total of 4.7 billion krone is distributed to municipalities and coastal counties from the aquaculture industry.
Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) and Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Marianne Næss Sivertsen (Ap) presented the distribution of the Aquaculture Fund on Monday.
Photo: Line Tomter
Frøya remains the country’s largest aquaculture municipality, receiving 153 million krone in payments from the fund this year. This equates to 28,400 krone per inhabitant in the Trøndelag municipality.
Senja municipality in Midt-Troms will receive 126 million krone from the Aquaculture Fund this year. Over the past four years, the municipality has received over 350 million krone, making it the third largest aquaculture municipality in the country.
Income from the aquaculture fund 2020-2024:
With over 45 active aquaculture locations, Frøya is Norway’s largest aquaculture municipality and has also had the highest income in recent years.
Hitra ranks as the country’s fifth largest aquaculture municipality in terms of income.
In Nærøysund municipality in Trøndelag, Salmar has acquired the aquaculture activities of both Norwegian Royal Salmon and SalmoNor. The Trøndelag municipality is the second largest aquaculture municipality in Norway in terms of income.
Senja municipality is the third largest aquaculture municipality in the country, with significant local activity, some of which has been acquired by Salmar.
According to a report from Nofima in 2023, 673 employees were involved in activities in the aquaculture industry in the municipality.
The home municipality of Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Marianne Sivertsen Næss (Ap) is also the country’s fourth largest aquaculture municipality.
Notably, the Japanese-owned company Cermaq (formerly state-owned) and Grieg Seafood from Bergen have substantial activities in the municipality.
Stavanger is Norway’s 6th largest aquaculture municipality in terms of income since 2020. In 2024, the municipality will receive 74 million krone from the aquaculture fund.
More for the municipalities
As in the previous years, the island municipalities Frøya and Nærøysund in Trøndelag receive the most from the fund. Frøya gets just over 153 million krone, and Nærøysund will receive just over 152 million krone this year.
The record amount is partly due to high prices at the auction for aquaculture licenses.
– The government has focused on ensuring that the municipalities get their share of the income from nature-based industries, and this is what we see the result of now, says Member of Parliament from Nordland, Bjørnar Skjæran (Ap).
Bjørnar Skjæran is from Lurøy municipality which has received 51 million krone from the Aquaculture Fund this year.
Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
940 million extra to the counties
In addition to the 3.7 billion krone to municipalities, coastal counties will also receive an extra 939 million krone from the Aquaculture Fund.
– Part of what we did when it was storming the most during the debate about the resource rent tax for the aquaculture industry was to ensure that the counties would also receive more money, says Vedum to NRK.
In 2022, the counties received a total of 386 million krone. In 2024, this sum will increase by 70 percent.
– This is a quite powerful initiative, because the aquaculture industry also needs county roads and upper secondary education.
Distribution to counties:
The northern counties will receive a total of 426 million krone.
Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal will receive a combined total of 253 million krone.
Vestlandet, Rogaland, and Agder will receive 258 million krone.
Of the entire payout from the Aquaculture Fund, 20 percent of the income goes to county municipalities.
The county mayor in Møre og Romsdal, Anders Risse (H), is pleased about this.
With an additional allocation of 78 million krone, the county municipality can boost its marine value creation fund.
– However, given the current situation, we must consider whether everything should go into that fund or if we should use some of this for operations. It is clear that we are focused on maintaining a good ferry service and high quality in upper secondary education, Risse tells NRK.
Senja municipality has received over 352 million krone from the Aquaculture Fund over four years.
Photo: Pål Hansen / NRK
Changed distribution between state, counties, and municipalities
In 2023, the aquaculture industry generated 110 billion krone and had, according to IntraFish a pre-tax profit of 24.6 billion krone in 2023.
Starting in 2023, a <span class="note" data-content="
A tax that aims to ensure that the community receives a share of the extraordinary returns generated by the exploitation of commonly owned natural resources
” data-term=”grunnrenteskatt”>resource rent tax, paid before <span class="note" data-content="
Company profits are taxed at a flat rate of 22 percent.
” data-term=”selskapskatt”>corporate tax, was introduced with a tax rate of 25 percent.
With the sale of concessions, a new resource rent tax, a production fee, and corporate tax, the industry paid over 18 billion krone in taxes and fees.
Kari Anne Skoglund / NRK
Aquaculture Fund, resource rent tax, and production fees?
This is how the aquaculture industry is taxed:
Aquaculture Fund:
- Every other year, the state auctions off licenses for new locations in the district, after municipalities have designated new areas in the coastal zone. Part of the income goes to the Aquaculture Fund.
- Additionally, the industry pays 0.88 krone for every produced salmon in the pens, which goes to aquaculture municipalities. The distribution to municipalities is based on the number of locations and produced salmon in each municipality.
- Since the auctions are held every other year, the income from the Aquaculture Fund fluctuates from year to year. This year, 4.7 billion krone from the fund went to municipalities and counties.
Resource rent tax:
- From 2023, the government introduced a new tax of 25 percent on the profit before corporate tax from the aquaculture industry, known as resource rent tax for the aquaculture industry.
- This amounts to 4.5 billion krone in 2024 and goes entirely to the state, which distributes parts of the income to all municipalities via block grants.
Export fee:
- The aquaculture industry also pays a fee per exported fish in a separate export fee. This goes to finance the Seafood Council and the aquaculture industry’s research fund.
- According to Oslo Economics, the fee was 650 million krone in 2021 and is estimated to be 800 million in 2024.
Corporate tax:
- Additionally, the aquaculture industry, like all other industries, has a corporate tax on profits after production fee and purchase of concessions at 22 percent.
- According to Nofima, this amounted to about seven billion krone in 2023.
- The new resource rent tax in the aquaculture industry, at 25 percent of the profit, has given the state 4.5 billion krone more in income from the aquaculture industry this year.
- Parts of the aquaculture tax are allocated to all municipalities via the block grant, but the revenues have allowed the government to distribute more of the income from the sale of concessions to the municipalities and counties.
- In 2024, the state changed income distribution from the sale of aquaculture licenses. Municipalities and county municipalities will receive a total of 55 percent of the income, distributed every other year.
- The Aquaculture Fund consists of income from the sale of concessions and a separate production fee, which the aquaculture industry finances.
Helge Orten sits on the finance committee of the Storting for the Conservative Party.
Photo: Ksenia Novikova
Helge Orten from the Conservative Party tells NRK that it is gratifying that municipalities are receiving payments from the Aquaculture Fund.
– We are positive about aquaculture municipalities receiving income from the Aquaculture Fund. This was also the intent of the arrangement introduced under the Solberg government, he says.
He emphasizes that the Aquaculture Fund is a result of income from the sale of concessions and production fees, and that municipalities should receive more from this is something the Conservative Party also agrees with.
– This allocation has nothing to do with the resource rent tax, Orten emphasizes.
Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum has proposed to increase the production fee to municipalities in 2025.
Photo: Cicilie Sigrid Andersen / NRK
Senja receives 126 million krone
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum refers to Senja during the press conference on Monday, where the distribution among the municipalities became clear.
– The aquaculture industry is a profitable industry, and now more of the income is being redistributed back to Norwegian coastal counties and municipalities, says Vedum to NRK.
He points out that Senja municipality received 91 million krone from the Aquaculture Fund in 2022.
– And when Senja receives over 126 million today – it means a lot for a municipality like Senja, the finance minister emphasizes.
He believes this has been an important part of the promises the government made before taking office.
– We said we would give more back to the coastal municipalities, and what the state collects we give back in the form of cheaper daycare.
Sandra Borch’s home municipality Lavangen will receive 9 million krone from the Aquaculture Fund this year.
Photo: NTB
Why does Senja do well?
The structure of the Aquaculture Fund is such that municipalities that establish more locations and allow for greater production at each facility benefit the most from the distributions.
Member of Parliament Sandra Borch (Sp) from Troms tells NRK that it is gratifying that the municipalities are receiving these funds now.
– Things look very good for Troms, and many municipalities are now receiving significant funds back for having set aside areas for aquaculture.
– Senja municipality has received, among other things, 352 million krone over four years. Why do they receive so much?
– Senja is a large aquaculture municipality, so it relates to how much aquaculture there is and how many new locations have been established in recent years. That is why Senja is doing very well, but it is very gratifying that the municipalities are now receiving even more from the Aquaculture Fund. This is helpful when local politicians prioritize funds for various initiatives, says Borch.
Hadsel mayor Kjell Børge Freiberg believes the payments save the municipality from cuts.
Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen
– Means everything
Lurøy, Rødøy, Steigen, and Hadsel in Nordland county each receive over 50 million krone from the Aquaculture Fund.
– This is absolutely fantastic and allows us to keep our heads above water. So it is a good day, says mayor of Hadsel, Kjell Børge Freiberg (H) to NRK.
– What does this money mean for Hadsel municipality?
– It means everything. Without these 50 million krone, I really dare not think about how things would have turned out. School structures and everything else would have looked different without this salmon money.
– What will you use this money for?
– We, like other municipalities, have no trouble finding things to spend money on in our municipality. The tasks are queuing up, he says.
The mayor of Smøla municipality, Svein Roksvåg (Sp), is pleased that the money is rolling into the municipal treasury.
Photo: Marius André Jenssen Stenberg / NRK
South of Hitra and Frøya lies the island municipality of Smøla in Møre og Romsdal. Mayor Svein Roksvåg can happily confirm that the municipality is receiving 73 million krone from the Aquaculture Fund.
– The mood was good when we found out how much money was coming in. Of course, we are relieved. We have never received this much before, he tells NRK.
Published
21.10.2024, at 12:06
Updated
21.10.2024, at 15:54