Hasvik Municipality

Hasvik (Hasviikan komuuni) is a municipality in Finnmark county, 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 555 km2 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 is 1.8 PD/km2 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 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 county. Previously, it had been part of the old Finnmark county. On 1 January 2024, the Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of Finnmark county.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hasvik farm since the first Hasvik Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of which means "high" or "tall", likely referring to the nearby mountain Håen (Hár). The last element is which means "cove" or "small bay".

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 13 July 1984. The official blazon is "Azure, a gull argent rising" (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.

Churches
The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Hasvik. It is part of the Alta prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland.

History
In 1900, Hasvik was connected to the telegraph 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, Russia via Iceland. (138 PBN-1s produced by Naval Aircraft Factory 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 to be scrapped. She stayed in Sørvær for 18 years.

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. 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, representatives from embassies of USA and Russia, and a Russian military attaché; 6  Soviet airmen who died in 1944, were honored.

Government
Hasvik 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. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Vestre Finnmark District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
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.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) 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, 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. The highest point in the municipality is the 958.7 m tall mountain Kjerringa.

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 as in the original Köppen climate classification) or 0 °C 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 was recorded August 2018; the all-time low -17.2 °C 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.