The ripple effects of aquaculture and fish constitute 31 billion NOK. Companies engaged in fish processing, aquaculture and fishing on the west coast produce for 56 billion annually, according to a new report from Hordaland County Council.

HeadlineClick here to edit the text… By Camilla Aadland, www.sysla.no

A reminder

For every billion produced in marine cluster on the west coast, it is produced an additional 560 million NOK outside the cluster as a ripple effect, according to the report.

– I hope this means that more people have realized that we have a strong marine cluster that contributes positively to value creation. Developments in oil prices has provided a reminder that we need to have other industries to lean on, and ripple effect analysis proves that we have other strong sectors and clusters, says Tanja Hoel, Managing Director of The Seafood Innovation Cluster, a cooperative body for seafood companies and research centers in the Houston area .

More jobs

Measured in the number of employed, the ripple effects are even bigger. For every 100 workplace directly in the cluster, there are 125 jobs outside associated with it. That means if a marine job disappears in Western Norway, it can be expected that nearly 2.3 jobs in total disappears.

– This shows how many jobs the marine industry creates. Often when looking at employment in the marine sector, it seems it is low compared to other sectors. It’s nice to get evidence that the marine industry has a large indirect employment effect in the region, says Tanja Hoel.

Pleasantly surprised

The report, which is based on figures from 2013, shows that altogether 34,578 jobs are tied directly or indirectly to the marine cluster in Western Norway. 9085 of these are located in Hordaland.

– We were pleasantly surprised that the impact of the marine cluster is so big, both for Hordaland and Western Norway, said County Director of regional development, Bård Sandal in Hordaland County.

By comparison a similar report on the repercussions of the oil and gas industry from January shows that 28,000 people in Hordaland has its work related to the oil and gas cluster. In addition, a further 19,000 other workplaces are depending on the activity in this cluster.

– We see that the ripple effects of the marine cluster is relatively equal, that was surprising for us, says Sandal.The report presented to the annual meeting of the Fisheries Forum West on Friday. HeadlineClick here to edit the text…