Herøy, Nordland

Herøy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Silvalen. The municipality is located about 15 km west of the town of Sandnessjøen.

The 64 km2 municipality is the 343rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Herøy is the 289th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,839. The municipality's population density is 28.8 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 4.5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The municipality of Herøy was established in 1864 when it was separated from Alstahaug Municipality. Initially the population of Herøy was 2,438. On 1 July 1917, the northern district of Herøy (population: 1,530) was separated from Herøy to become the new Nordvik Municipality. This left Herøy with 2,555 residents.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962 the part of Herøy on the island of Dønna (population: 19) was transferred to the new Dønna Municipality. On 1 January 1965 the Husvær/Sandværet island groups (population: 461) were transferred from Alstahaug Municipality to Herøy Municipality.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the islands of Søndre Herøya and Nordre Herøya (Herøyjar). The first element is which means "army" (here in the sense of skipaherr which means "military fleet"). The last element is the definite form of which means "island". The sound between the islands was probably a meeting place for the Leidang fleet of the district. Historically, the name of the municiaplity was spelled Herø. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Herøy.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 3 July 1987. The official blazon is "Azure, three oars Or issuant from the base, the central one abased" (I blått tre oppvoksende gull årer, den midterste nedsenket). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is three vertical oars arranged in a horizontal row, with the middle oar, slightly lower. The oars have a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The blue color in the field symbolizes the importance of the ocean for the island municipality. The oar was chosen to represent the importance of boats. The municipal name comes from the Old Norse word "herr" which means a military meeting place, i.e. the place where fleet gathers. Thus the arms are canting. The arms were designed by Jarle E. Henriksen.

Churches
The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within Herøy Municipality. It is part of the Nord-Helgeland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Geography
The municipality of Herøy consists of about 1,700 little islands and islets. The main islands are Nord-Herøy, Sør-Herøy, Tenna, Ytre Øksningan, Indre Øksningan, Seløya, and Staulen&mdash; all of which are connected by bridges including Åkviksundet Bridge, Hoholmen Bridge, Kalvøyrevet Bridge. Most islands are low and close to the sea surface.

There are also several smaller outlying island groups such as Gåsvær, Husvær, and Sandværet. Ytterholmen Lighthouse is located in the far western part of the municipality.

Government
Herøy 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 Helgeland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Herøy is made up of 19 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 Herøy (incomplete list):
 * 2003-2019: Arnt Frode Jensen (Ap)
 * 2019–present: Elbjørg Larsen (Ap)

Economy
The main industries in the municipality is fishing, fish farming and processing activities associated with this. Other important industries are agriculture, transportation, service industries, and tourism.

Notable people

 * Petter Dass (ca.1647 – 1707), a Lutheran priest and the foremost Norwegian poet of his generation.
 * Benjamin Dass (1706 at Skar farm in Alstahaug, Herøy – 1775), an educator and scholar, Rector of Trondheim Cathedral School