Norwegian fisheries glossary

Skrei is the mature Northeast Arctic cod that migrates from the Barents Sea to spawn along the Norwegian coast, especially around Lofoten, between January and April. It is the same species as Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) — "skrei" is a market and quality label for the spawning, migratory stock, not a separate species in catch data.

A sluttseddel is the mandatory sales and landing note that records every first-hand sale of wild-caught fish in Norway. Signed by both the buyer and the fisher at landing, it lists species, product condition, exact weights, price, the vessel and the buyer. It is the legal and statistical backbone behind Norwegian landings data.

Norwegian fishing quotas allocate a limited annual harvest of each fish stock down to individual vessels to keep fishing sustainable. A national total catch is divided into group quotas per fleet, then into vessel quotas calculated as a quota factor times a quota unit. The system underpins how Norway manages stocks like cod, herring and mackerel.

Norwegian fish sales organisations (salgslag) are fishermen-owned bodies that hold the exclusive right to handle the first-hand sale of wild-caught fish. They register every sales note, negotiate and set minimum prices, and channel settlement between buyers and fishers. Examples include Norges Råfisklag, SUROFI and Norges Sildesalgslag.

Product weight (produktvekt) is the actual weight of fish in the condition it is landed — whole, gutted, headed or filleted. Round weight (rundvekt) is the back-calculated live weight of the whole fish, derived by multiplying product weight by an official conversion factor. Landings statistics use product weight; quotas are managed in round weight.

Norwegian catch and landings data is the official record of wild fish caught and delivered to buyers. Each landing record captures the vessel, the buyer, the species, the weights, the product condition, the gear, the area and the date — and, once finalised, the price. Because a sales note is required for every first-hand sale, the dataset is close to a complete census of the fishery.

Lofotfisket is the seasonal winter cod fishery for spawning skrei in and around the Lofoten islands in northern Norway, running roughly January to April. As Northeast Arctic cod migrate in from the Barents Sea to spawn, the coastal fleet meets them with traditional gear. It is Norway's oldest and most storied fishery and still drives the northern fresh-fish economy.

Pelagic fish are open-water schooling species that live in the upper and middle water column rather than near the seabed — herring, mackerel, blue whiting, capelin and sprat. In Norway they are caught mainly by purse seine and pelagic trawl, landed in very large volumes, and handled by a single nationwide sales organisation, in contrast to bottom-dwelling whitefish like cod and haddock.

A minimum price (minstepris) is the legally binding floor price for the first-hand sale of wild-caught fish in Norway, below which a catch may not be sold. It is normally negotiated between the fishermen-owned sales organisation and the buyer side; if they cannot agree, mediation is mandatory before the sales organisation may set the floor on its own.

A quota factor (kvotefaktor) is a per-vessel multiplier that expresses a vessel's fixed share of its fleet group's quota. A vessel's quota in tonnes equals its quota factor times the quota unit (kvoteenhet) that regulators set each year for that group. It is the building block of Norway's structural quota system and the reason individual vessel quotas can be raised by buying additional factors.

Fresh versus frozen describes the preservation state of landed fish. Fresh (iced) fish is landed chilled but unfrozen, typically by coastal vessels delivering daily to nearby plants. Frozen-at-sea fish is frozen aboard offshore vessels on longer trips and landed to cold stores. The split tracks the divide between the coastal fresh-fish fleet and offshore freezer trawlers, and is recorded on every landing.