Austevoll

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox kommune

Austevoll is a municipality and an archipelago in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Midthordland in Western Norway. The administrative centre is the village of Storebø on the island of Huftarøy. Other villages include Årland, Austevollshella, Bakkasund, Bekkjarvik, Birkeland, Haukanes, Husavik, Kolbeinsvik, Otterå, Våge, and Vinnes.

The municipality consists of hundreds of islands located southwest of the city of Bergen. The municipality is considered to be among the ports in the world with the largest ocean-going fishing trawler fleet. Since the 1980s, the offshore oil industry and fish farming industry have both grown to be important industries in Austevoll.

The Template:Convert municipality is the 323rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Austevoll is the 177th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 5,297. The municipality's population density is Template:Convert and its population has increased by 9.5% over the previous 10-year period.<ref name="ssb hist pop">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ssb area">Template:Cite web</ref>

General information

File:Northern Austevoll.JPG

Aerial view of northern Austevoll

File:Sildajento.JPG

Sildajento

The municipality of Austevoll was established on 1 January 1886 when it was separated from the municipality of Sund. The initial population for the new municipality of Austevoll was 2,396.<ref name="Dag" />

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the southern part of the islands of Selbjørn and Huftarøy (population: 696) was transferred from Fitjar Municipality to Austevoll. This put the whole Austevoll archipelago in the municipality of Austevoll.<ref name="Dag">Template:Cite book</ref>

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Austevoll farm (Template:Langx) since the first Austevoll Church was built there. The farm is now part of the village of Austevollshella. The first element is Template:Wikt-lang which means "east". The last element is Template:Wikt-lang which means "meadow" or "field". The municipality has changed the spelling of its name three times.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Østervold or Østevold. In 1889, the spelling was changed to Austevold. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Austevoll.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 30 November 1984. The official blazon is "Azure, four herrings argent in bend 1-2-1" (Template:Langx). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a set of four herring swimming diagonally up to the left. The charg has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The shoal of herring was chosen for the arms since herring fishing is a very important part of the local economy. The arms were designed by John Digernes. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (Template:Lang) within the municipality of Austevoll. It is part of the Fana prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

**Churches in Austevoll**
Parish (Template:Lang)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Austevoll	Austevoll Church	Storebø	1890
	Bekkjarvik Church	Bekkjarvik	1895
	Hundvåkøy Church	Austevollshella	1990
	Møkster Church	Stolmen	1892
	Store-Kalsøy Chapel	Bakkasund	1975

Geography

Austevoll consists of 667 islands off the west coast of Western Norway. The municipality has a total land area of Template:Convert and a coastline of Template:Convert. It lies south of the Korsfjorden, west of the Bjørnafjorden, and north of the Selbjørnsfjorden.<ref name="Tall">Template:Cite web</ref> The highest point in Austevoll is the mountain Loddo, reaching Template:Convert above sea level. The Marstein Lighthouse lies in the northwestern part of the municipality.

Largest islands

Neighbours

The island municipality shares water borders with the municipality of Øygarden to the north, Bergen and Bjørnafjorden municipalities to the northeast, Tysnes municipality to the east, and Fitjar and Bømlo municipalities to the south. The North Sea lies to the west of Austevoll.

Demographics

Template:Historical populations

Of the 667 islands, only eight are populated year-round. About 29% of the inhabitants live in densely populated areas. About 28% of the inhabitants are under the age of 17, which is 4.4% over the national average. About 4.7% of the inhabitants are 80 years or older.<ref name="Tall" />

Villages

Rank	Village	Village Population (2005)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	District Population (2001)<ref name="census">Template:Cite web</ref>
1	Storebø	1,032	1,341
2	Bekkjarvik	355	489
3	Kolbeinsvik		481
4	Vinnes		378
5	Haukanes		235

Inhabited islands

Rank	Island	Area (km²)	Population<ref name="census" />	Density (/km²)	Largest settlement	Highest point	Elevation (m)
1	Huftarøy	50.4	2,435	48.3	Storebø	Loddo	244
2	Selbjørn	25	956	38.24	Bekkjarvik	Kongsafjellet	185
3	Hundvåkøy	10.7	554	51.7	Austevollshella		61
4	Stolmen	7.9	206	26.0	Våge	Såta	60
5	Storekalsøy	6	167	27.0	Bakkasund	Mjuken	57
6	Møkster		65
7	Litlekalsøy		26

Gallery

Bekkjarviksundet, between Selbjørn and Huftarøy.

Bekkjarviksundet, between Selbjørn and Huftarøy.
Marstein Lighthouse

Marstein Lighthouse
Stolmasundet, between Stolmen and Selbjørn.

Stolmasundet, between Stolmen and Selbjørn.
Olaf II of Norway from Austevoll Church

Olaf II of Norway from Austevoll Church

Industry

Fishing is the most important industry in Austevoll, as it has been for centuries. Traditionally, fishing has taken place in coastal areas, not far off shore. After decades of overfishing, the herring disappeared in the 1950s. This forced a restructuring of the fishing fleet. Since the 1960s, the shipping companies built bigger ships, and went further out into the seas, and they began fishing for other fish species, not just herring. The overfishing of herring also forced better research on fishing, resulting in the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research. Austevoll is the home of the Austevoll Aquaculture Research Station.

Since the early 1980s, the offshore supply industry has emerged in the wake of the offshore Norwegian oil industry. The offshore shipping company DOF, which is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, has its headquarters at Storebø.

Education

There are five primary schools and one middle school in Austevoll, all run by the municipality. There is also one secondary school, teaching mainly fishing and nautical subjects. This is operated by the Hordaland County Municipality.

Transportation

Austevoll has car ferry connections from Hufthammar on the north tip of Huftarøy to Krokeide in Bergen, and from Husavik on the south tip of Huftarøy to Sandvikvåg in Fitjar. The municipality is also connected by express boats to Bergen in the north, and Stord, Haugesund, and Stavanger in the south. All express boat routes are operated by Norled, and ferry routes are operated by Fosen Namsos.

The islands of Huftarøy and Selbjørn, Selbjørn and Stolmen, and Hundvåkøy and Storekalsøy are connected with bridges. A fourth bridge, connecting Huftarøy and Hundvåkøy, was opened on 17 November 2007. This bridge, which in fact consists of two bridges and two stone fillings, bears the name "Austevollsbrua".

Government

Austevoll Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.<ref name="ks">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Hordaland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Template:Lang) of Austevoll is made up of 21 representatives that are elected to four year terms.

From 1995 to 1999 the Socialist Left Party held one seat. In the 1999–2003 election period an all-party female electoral list held one seat in the council. In the 2003-2007 election period The Liberal Party was represented in the municipal council and held one seat. From 2011 to 2015, a coalition of the Progress Party and Center Party held power in the council. The coalition also consisted of the Christian Democratic Party before 2011. In 2011, the coalition won 12 of the 21 seats in the municipal council and had an electoral and political cooperation. The Conservative Party, Labour Party, and Christian Democratic Party make up the opposition.

Mayors

The mayors (Template:Langx) of Austevoll:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

#	Name	Office	Political Party	Occupation
Template:Center	Ole Olsen Strømme	1886–1901		Church bell ringer
Template:Center	Peder Olai Kleppe	1902–1919		Fisherman
Template:Center	Olai Naustheller	1920–1925		Farmer
Template:Center	Mikkel Nilsen Birkeland	1926–1935		Farmer
Template:Center	Magnus Larssen	1935–1937		School teacher
Template:Center	Salomon O. Fagerbakke	1938–1945		Fisherman
Template:Center	Salomon V. Kalvenes	1946–1959		Fisherman
Template:Center	Rikard S. Storebø	1960–1969	Liberal Party	Social security manager
Template:Center	Peder Kalve	1970–1975	Conservative Party	Maritime pilot
Template:Center	Magnus Stangeland	1976–1981	Centre Party	School principal
Template:Center	Knut K. Kalvenes	1982–1985	Conservative Party<ref name="hoeyre1">Template:Cite web</ref>	Retailer
Template:Center	Hallvard Møgster	1986–1989	Christian Democratic Party	Captain
Template:Center	Inge Bjarne Storebø	1990–2001	Conservative Party	Bank manager
Template:Center	Olav P. Årland	2001–2003	Christian Democratic Party	Shipmaster
Template:Center	Helge André Njåstad	2003–2011	Progress Party	Student
Template:Center	Renate Møgster Klepsvik	2011–2015	Progress Party
Template:Center	Morten Storebø	2015–2023	Conservative Party	Politician
Template:Center	Bente Kari Sletten Taranger	2023-present	Conservative Party

Notable people

File:Helge André Njåstad (crop).jpg

Helge André Njåstad, 2009

Abelone Møgster, (Norwegian Wiki) (1883 in Austevoll – 1975), a merchant and Norwegian resistance fighter
Magnus Stangeland (born 1941 in Austevoll), a politician, mayor of Austevoll, and entrepreneur
Knut Fagerbakke (born 1952), a Norwegian politician who was Deputy Mayor of Trondheim
Ole Rasmus Møgster (1958 – 2010), a Norwegian businessperson with Austevoll Seafood
Jan Bertin Østervold, (Norwegian Wiki) (born 1966 in Skien) known as Jan Thomas, a stylist and actor
Claus Lundekvam (born 1973), a former footballer with 410 club caps and 40 for Norway
Helge André Njåstad (born 1980), a Norwegian politician who was mayor of Austevoll from 2003 to 2013