Marianne Sivertsen Næss

Marianne Sivertsen Næss (born 28 March 1974) is a Norwegian school principal and politician for the Labour Party. She is currently minister of fisheries and ocean policy since 2024 and a member of parliament for Finnmark since 2021. She previously served as mayor of Hammerfest Municipality between 2019 and 2021, and deputy mayor between 2011 and 2019.

Local politics
On the local level, she has been a member of the Municipal Council of Hammerfest Municipality since 2007 and served as deputy mayor of Hammerfest between 2011 and 2019, with Alf E. Jakobsen as mayor. She succeeded him as mayor in 2019 after he didn't see re-election, with Terje Wikstrøm as deputy. She gained national attention for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hammerfest, which was strongly affected by the outbreak.

She resigned in 2021 in order to take her seat in parliament, and was succeeded by Wikstrøm.

Parliament
She was elected as a representative to the Storting from the constituency of Finnmark for the period 2021–2025. In parliament, she was a member of the Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment, to which she was elected chair of in 2022. She left the position upon her 2024 ministerial appointment, and was succeeded by Ingvild Kjerkol. While serving in government from 2024, Sigurd Kvammen Rafaelsen deputises in her place.

Minister of Fisheries
Næss was appointed minister of fisheries and ocean policy on 19 April 2024 following the dismissal of Ingvild Kjerkol in the wake of a plagiarism scandal.

2024
Næss expressed concerns for illegal fishing tourism in July following revelations by NRK of the matter in Western Finnmark. As a result she put down a commission which will look into the matter and the report will be presented by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries on how fishing tourism can be regulated and controlled better. She also proposed measures such as fishing license for foreign fishing tourists, ban on filleting and freezing fish for tourists who are not registered at a tourist fishery, and inspections of the level of the export quota.

Civic career
Næss has an education in school management, project management and has a master's degree in special pedagogy and adapted education. She has been section leader at the Finnmark Hospital Trust and principal at Hammerfest upper secondary school. She has been on leave from her duties as principal since 2016 in order to focus on political work.

Personal life
Næss is married to her husband Reidar, with whom she has three daughters. Her eldest daughter died at an early age of childhood cancer.