Hasvik (; ) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the municipality is the village of

Breivikbotn Breivikbotn is the administrative centre of Hasvik Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is an old trading post and fishing village that is located on the western end of the island of Sørøya, looking out across the Lopphavet Sea. The vill ...

. Other villages in the municipality include Breivik,

Hasvik Hasvik may refer to: Places * Hasvik Municipality, a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway * Hasvik (village), a village in Hasvik Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway * Hasvik Church, a church in Hasvik Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway ...

, and Sørvær. The population of Hasvik has generally been in steady decline due to problems within the

fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity that takes, cultures, processes, preserves, stores, transports, markets or sells fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including recreational, sub ...

. Hasvik is an island municipality with no road connections to the rest of Norway.

Hasvik Airport Hasvik Airport (; ) is a regional airport serving Hasvik Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The airport is located in the village of Hasvik (village), Hasvik on the island of Sørøya. In 2012, Hasvik Airport had 7,629 passengers, making i ...

is served with regular connections to

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

and

Hammerfest Hammerfest or Hámmárfeasta is a town/cityIn the Norwegian language, the word ''by'' can be translated as "town" or "city". that is also the administrative centre of Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the nor ...

, and there is a two-hour ferry crossing to the village of

Øksfjord , , or is the administrative centre of Loppa Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located on the east side of the Øksfjorden (Finnmark), Øksfjorden, just south of the mouth of the fjord. Øksfjord Church is located in the v ...

on the mainland, providing access by car. The municipality is the 195th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Hasvik is the 336th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 979. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

is and its population has decreased by 5.6% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of Hasvik was established in 1858 when the northern part of

Loppa Municipality Loppa ( and ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Øksfjord. Other villages in Loppa include Andsnes, Bergsfjord, Lan ...

was separated to form this new municipality. The initial population was 506. The borders of the municipality have not changed since that time. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; ; ; ) was a county in northern Norway that existed from 2020 to 2023. The county was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. It was the largest county by area in Norway, encompassing about , and w ...

county. Previously, it had been part of the old

county. On 1 January 2024, the

county was divided and the municipality once again became part of

county.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named after the old ''Hasvik'' farm since the first

Hasvik Church Hasvik Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Hasvik Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Hasvik. It is the church for the Hasvik parish which is part of the Alta prosti (deanery) in the Dioce ...

was built there. The first element is the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

of which means "high" or "tall", likely referring to the nearby mountain ''Håen'' (). The last element is which means "

cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

" or "small

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 13 July 1984. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"

Azure Azure may refer to: Color * Azure (color), a hue of blue ** Azure (heraldry) ** Shades of azure, shades and variations Arts and media * ''Azure'' (Art Farmer and Fritz Pauer album), 1987 * Azure (Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell album), 2013 * ...

, a gull

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

rising Rising or RISING may refer to: Film and TV * "Rising", 2001 television series episode, see list of ''Dark Angel'' episodes * "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), television series episode * ''Rising'' (web series), an American daily news and opini ...

"'' (). This means the arms have a blue

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

that is just taking flight. The seagull has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The blue color in the field and the seagull were chosen by the municipality as a symbol for the local

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

fish processing The term fish processing refers to the processes associated with fish and fish products between the time fish are caught or harvested, and the time the final product is delivered to the customer. Although the term refers specifically to fish, in ...

industry which attracts many seagulls. The design of the arms was proposed by Martha Gamst from Breivikbotn, and it was refined and finalized by Arvid Sveen.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

has one parish () within the municipality of Hasvik. It is part of the Alta prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms and Finnmark counties as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø at the Tromsø Cathedral, t ...

History

In 1900, Hasvik was connected to the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

system of the rest of Norway. In June 1944, a Catalina aircraft crashed into a mountain in Hasvik, killing the crew of 6; the crew consisted of Soviet airmen wearing American uniforms; the aircraft was flying from the U.S. to

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

, Russia via

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. (138 PBN-1s produced by

Naval Aircraft Factory The Naval Aircraft Factory (NAF) was established by the United States Navy in 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was created to help solve aircraft supply issues which the United States Department of the Navy, Navy Department faced upon the ...

served with the Soviet Navy, after the NAF transferred ownership via Project ZEBRA). The remains of the crew members were moved out of Norway after World War II.

Stranded Soviet warship

In the sea off the village of Sørvær, the decommissioned Soviet cruiser Murmansk ran aground on Christmas Eve in 1994. Her towlines had snapped off the nearby North Cape while the vessel was on its way to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to be scrapped. She stayed in Sørvær for 18 years. In 2012, the operation to removed the vessel started. A

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island, Antarctica * Breakwater Islands, Nunavut, Canada * ...

and

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

was constructed around the vessel to access it from land and demolish it where it rested. The dock around the wreck was sealed in April. By mid-May the dock was almost empty of water and the demolishing of the cruiser began. The project was completed in 2013. In 2021, a plaque was unveiled in the presence of

minister of defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

, representatives from embassies of USA and Russia, and a Russian

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

; 6 Soviet airmen who died in 1944, were honored.

Government

Hasvik Municipality is responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality is governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the

Vestre Finnmark District Court Vestre Finnmark District Court () is a district court located in northern Norway. This court is based at two different courthouses which are located in Alta and Hammerfest. The court is subordinate to the Hålogaland Court of Appeal. The court se ...

and the

Hålogaland Court of Appeal The Hålogaland Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Tromsø. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark as well as the island territor ...

Municipal council

The

of Hasvik is made up of 15 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

Mayors

The

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

() of Hasvik (incomplete list): *1873-1874: Johannes Bull *1886-1887: Ole Mathisen *1890–1907: Andreas Jox *1907-1929: Albert Krane ( H) *1929-1934: Thorvald Kristian Gamst Berg ( V) *1935-1940: Arthur Gustavsen ( Ap) *1940-1941: Einar Nikolaisen *1941-1945: Bjarne Krane ( NS) *1945-1947: Arthur Gustavsen ( Ap) *1948-1951: Sverre Bakken ( Ap) *1952-1955: Hjalmar Jenssen ( Ap) *1956-1959: Sverre Bakken ( Ap) *1960-1963: Hjalmar Jenssen ( Ap) *1964-1965: Edmund Johansen ( Ap) *1968-1971: Klemet Olsen ( Ap) *1971-1983: Arne Helge Danielsen ( Ap) *1983-1991: Bjørnar Roald Hågensen ( Ap) *1991-2003: Odd Egil Simonsen ( Ap) *2003-2007: Geir Adelsten Iversen ( Sp) *2007-2023: Eva Danielsen Husby ( Ap) *2023-present: Lars Hustad ( LL)

Geography

The municipality of Hasvik is situated on the western side of

Sørøya or is Norway's fourth largest island in terms of area and the largest in Finnmark county. The island is divided between Hasvik Municipality and Hammerfest Municipality. It is often claimed to be "one of the most beautiful" of the islands in ...

, Norway's fourth largest island (other than

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

). Most people in Hasvik are to be found in a string of settlements along the western coast: the three largest being

, Sørvær, and

. The municipality also includes the very sparsely populated northern part of the island of

Stjernøya or is an island in western Finnmark county, Norway. The island sits at the mouth of the Altafjorden on the south side of the Sørøysundet strait. It is divided among the municipalities of Loppa, Hasvik, and Alta. The highest point on th ...

, including the Sørfjorden area. Stjernøya has no road or ferry connections. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Kjerringa.

Climate

Hasvik, situated on

island, has an either a

subpolar oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

(Cfc) or a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(Dfc), depending on winter threshold used ( as in the original Köppen climate classification) or as used in the US). Winter temperatures hover around freezing, and the short summers are cool. The winters are very mild considering the latitude of more than 70 degrees North. The driest season is April to July, and the wettest season is October to January. The wettest month October get more than twice as much precipitation as the driest month May. The all-time high temperature was recorded August 2018; the all-time low recorded in December 2002. The weather station at the small airport close to the village has been operating since January 1984. Extremes available since 2002.

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

Article about life expectancy in Hasvik
8 August 2021.

Nrk The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

.no
Weather information for Hasvik
{{authority control Municipalities of Finnmark Populated places of Arctic Norway 1858 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1858