Press releases

In August this year Nor-Fishing will celebrate its 50th anniversary. No other technology focused fisheries exhibition has been operated for this long. Managing Director Odd Berg and Project Manager Kari Steinsbø in the Nor-Fishing Foundation report a very good interest and booking from exhibitors and say that several interesting jubilee projects are under preparation.

Category: Nor-Fishing (en)

Fisheries exhibitions have been held in Norway for some 150 years. The very first fisheries exhibition was held in Aalesund from the 23rd till the 25th of June1864. How many exhibitors participated is not known, but the exhibition filled 10 rooms in the city's new secondary school. Already the following year the first international fisheries exhibitions were held in Bergen. Later other events followed; a fisheries exhibition was held in Trondheim in 1887, again in Bergen in 1898, in Risør in 1907, and then the large Scandinavian Fisheries Exhibition in Trondheim in 1908.

After the Second World War a fisheries exhibition was organized in Aalesund in 1954, and then the event was given a firmer organization when the Norwegian Fisheries Exhibition was organized from the 25th of August until the 11th of September 1960 in Bergen. Backing this event was then Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen and Minister of Fisheries Nils Lysø. The Ministry of Fisheries was the official organizer, and H.M. King Olav V officiated at the grand opening of what was to become Nor-Fishing, and what this year can celebrate 50 years of service to the fisheries industry.

However, it would take another five years before the 2nd Norwegian Fisheries Exhibition was organized in Trondheim in 1965. At the outset it was thought that the exhibition would alternate between various cities, but in actual fact most exhibition since then were held in Trondheim. The only exception was in 1978, when the exhibition was held in Oslo.

In 1974 the name of the event was changed to Nor-Fishing, with the sub-title "The 5th Norwegian Fisheries Exhibition". The reason for changing the name was that since 1972 there was increasing international interest in the event, and a growing number of foreign exhibitors and visitors came to the exhibition.

Since the 1970s the exhibitions has been organized every other year, and since 1979 Nor-Fishing has alternated with the aquaculture exhibition Aqua Nor. Both exhibitions are today owned by the Nor-Fishing Foundation.

Project Manager Kari Steinsbø reports that some 250 exhibitors have signed up for this years event from Norway and a number of foreign countries, and that space is becoming scarce already. It appears that the much commented financial crisis has not hit the fisheries industry as hard as was expected. Odd Berg is optimistic: "We now look forward to a grand jubilee exhibition, and we wish you all welcome to Trondheim from the 17th to the 20th of August!"

For further information, please contact:
Press Secretary Erik Hempel, erik.hempel@nor-fishing.no , +47 908 41 124
Managing Director Odd Berg, odd.berg@nor-fishing.no, +47 901 19 942
Project Manager Kari Steinsbø, kari.steinsbo@nor-fishing.no , +47 73 56 86 40

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