Clockwise from top
⁄
Arve Eidsvik,
78,
who’s worked at his family fishing
shop his whole working life; the notes
from 1931, when the shop was bought for
NOK8,000; Eidsvik’s office, where old
press clippings cover the walls; and some
of the many bait options at the shop
It’s just that the numbers of the fishermen are dwindling, at
least those wanting to feed the local population as opposed to the
world. As Arve says, “There are fewer vessels, but they’re getting
bigger, more automated and more profitable; our customers have
become tourists as much as local fishermen.”
It’s little surprise tourists come. The pretty harbour boasts a
neat line of brightly-painted boats while the shop, which is packed
to its wooden rafters with fishing tackle, wooden boats, shipping
flags and old posters, looks as much like a fishing museum as
a store. And the charming Arve is an erudite historian, even
though Solveig complains about the clutter of old papers and
press cuttings he refuses to throw away. He shows me books from
1931
recording how his father, grandfather and his father’s uncle
initially invested NOK8,000 in the shop, splitting the shares.
“
In 1938, there were 640 boats fishing cod in Ålesund,” says
Arve, pointing to an old newspaper article. “Now there’s barely
20.”
Arve started working in the family shop in 1955 just after he’d
finished his military service and has been here all his adult life –
he was never one of those fishermen.
He calls up Ottar Ekremsaeter, who fishes on a small boat with
his uncle, 75-year-old Elias Bakkebø – not only are the pair one of
the few regular fishing duos in Ålesund (most crews, and boats, are
bigger), but Elias is said to be the oldest active fisherman in town.
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