Norway: Fish to Africa
Posted by African Press International on June 19, 2007
Norway’s large fishing industry now seems to have found a lucrative market for a part of the fish that’s usually tossed away.
Once dried, fish heads like this can be a marketable delicacy. PHOTO: JOHN MYHRE |
Gone are the days when fishing enterprises up and down the long coast of Norway revolved around a fish packing plant at the harbour. Most of them have shut down, since much of the fish is fileted and packed on board so-called factory vessels.
The local packing plants are steadily being replaced with small businesses specializing in niche products tied to the fishing industry. New among them are plants designed to dry fish heads, for export to countries like Nigeria where they’re a delicacy.
The towns of Btsfjord and Kvalsund are planning and building plants to dry fish heads and fish backbones. Newspaper Aftenposten reports that an Icelandic firm has launched a cooperation with Aker Seafood that will sell the dried fish heads to Nigerian customers.
Demand is strong, and the Norwegians are happy to help.
“It’s interesting that fish heads can be exploited,” said Frank Kristiansen of a fishing industry research firm in Troms, Fiskeriforskning. “Up to now, they’ve been mostly either thrown away or used for animal feed.”
Developments in Btsfjord suggest that local coastal communities, earlier hit by hard times, may blossom once again. Other niche businesses include a factory that makes nutritional supplements from cod liver oil in tablet form.
By Ole Magnus Rapp andNina Berglund
Lifted and Published by African Press in Norway(APN)/ African Press International(API) Source: AftenpostenENG
