Hasvik (Northern Sami: Ákŋoluovtta gielda; Kven: Hasviikan komuuni) is a municipality in Finnmarkcounty, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Breivikbotn. Other villages in the municipality include Breivik, Hasvik, and Sørvær. The population of Hasvik has generally been in steady decline due to problems within the fishing industry. Hasvik is an island municipality with no road connections to the rest of Norway. Hasvik Airport is served with regular connections to Tromsø and Hammerfest, and there is a two-hour ferry crossing to the village of Øksfjord on the mainland, providing access by car.
The 556-square-kilometre (215 sq mi) municipality is the 196th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Hasvik is the 336th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 970. The municipality's population density is 1.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (4.7/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 5.2% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]
General information
Sørvik village, HasvikLake in Hasvik, Sørøya islandHasvik Church
The municipality of Hasvik was established in 1858 when the northern part of Loppa Municipality was separated to form this new municipality. The initial population was 506. The borders of the municipality have not changed since that time.[6]
On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed Troms og Finnmark county. Previously, it had been part of the old Finnmark county.[7] On 1 January 2024, the Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of Finnmark county.[8]
Name
The Old Norse form of the name was probably Hásvík. The first element is then the genitive case of the local mountain name Hár (now Håen) and the last element is vík which means "cove" or "wick". The actual name of the mountain is compared in form with an old oarlock (Old Norse: hár).[9]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 13 July 1984. The official blazon is "Azure, a gull argentrising" (Norwegian: I blått en oppflygende hvit make). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a seagull that is just taking flight. The seagull 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 blue color in the field and the seagull were chosen by the municipality as a symbol for the local fishing and fish processing 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.[10][11][12]
In 1900, Hasvik was connected to the telegraph system of the rest of Norway.[13]
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, Russia via Iceland.[14] (138 PBN-1s produced by Naval Aircraft Factory served with the Soviet Navy, after the NAF transferred ownership via Project ZEBRA).[15] The remains of the crew members were moved out of Norway after World War II.
Stranded Soviet warship
The ship was being towed for scrapping, but ran aground in Hasvik in 1994, and was removed in 2012.
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 to be scrapped. She stayed in Sørvær for 18 years.[16]
In 2012, the operation to removed the vessel started. A breakwater and dry dock 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.[17] By mid-May the dock was almost empty of water and the demolishing of the cruiser began. The project was completed in 2013.[18]
In 2021, a plaque was unveiled in the presence of minister of defence, representatives from embassies of USA and Russia,[19] and a Russian military attaché; 6 Soviet airmen who died in 1944, were honored.[20]
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) 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.
The municipality of Hasvik is situated on the western side of Sørøya, Norway's fourth largest island (other than Svalbard). Most people in Hasvik are to be found in a string of settlements along the western coast: the three largest being Breivikbotn, Sørvær, and Hasvik. The municipality also includes the very sparsely populated northern part of the island of Stjernøya, including the Sørfjorden area. Stjernøya has no road or ferry connections.
Climate
Hasvik, situated on Sørøya island, has an either a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) or a subarctic climate (Dfc), depending on winter threshold used (−3 °C (27 °F) as in the original Köppen climate classification) or 0 °C (32 °F) 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 28.7 °C (83.7 °F) was recorded August 2018; the all-time low −17.2 °C (1.0 °F) 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.
Climate data for Hasvik Airport 1991-2020 (6 m, extremes 2002-2023)
^Rygh, Oluf (1924). Norske gaardnavne: Finmarkens amt (in Norwegian) (18 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 115 & 117.
^"Godkjenning av våpen og flagg". Lovdata.no (in Norwegian). Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet. 1984-09-11. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
^Et vinterkledt Hasvik [Hasvik in a winter outfit]. digitaltmuseum.no. Accessed 20 April 2020
^Rapp, Ole Magnus. "Ordfører leter etter svar" [Mayor searches for answers] (31 December 2020) Klassekampen. P.10.
^Trimble, William (1990). Wings for the Navy: a history of the Naval Aircraft Factory, 1917-1956. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute. pp. 248–249. ISBN9780870216633.
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