Fróðskaparrit - 01.07.2004, Page 14

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TO FISH OR NOT TO FISH. THE MEANING OF FISH AND FISHERIES
AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE FAROEISLANDS
substantial for local identity and culture of
people in the Faroe Islands. “I like it here,
because you can always go sailing and be-
cause my father is a farmer”, says a sixteen-
year old boy from Sumba about his com-
munity in the comparative report (op.cit.).
Others say e.g.:
[Boy, 15 years, from Vágur]
I plan to get an education, but first I am go-
ing out to sea as a sailor, before I will sit on
a school bench again. I don’t relish the
thought of spending the whole day in front
of the computer. I would much rather be a
fisherman and have a regular job. It is un-
healthy to be a sailor, but if that’s the only
work opportunity, then one would have to
settle for that.
[Girl, sixteen years, from Porkeri]
The opportunities for work are rare here in
Porkeri. We have a salmon-smoking facto-
ry, which prov ides around 200 jobs. If a
person is not interested in working in the
físheries, he or she would have to leave the
town, or even the island, and find work
elsewhere.
[Girl, sixteen years, from Porkeri]
Most of the people have jobs, some work at
the salmon-factory in Porkeri, but I think
most of them work in the villages called
Tvøroyri and Vágur. Many of the men have
fishing boats; they go fishing and return
back home to sell the físh.
Escaping the físheries is an arduous enter-
prise according to these youths, making it a
question of staying or leaving home; fol-
lowing or breaking tradition. The teenage
boy from Vágur wants to work in the físh-
ing industry, but he also wants an educa-
tion giving him alternative opportunities
for the future. He has, like other Faroese
youths, to take many aspects into consider-
ation: where does he want to live? What
work can he get at the place? What way of
life is the best for him? The population of
the island of Suðuroy, far from Tórshavn,
ergo considered peripheral, is declining
year by year (Mentamálastýrið, 2001).
Young people in large numbers leave the is-
land to study and work in the capital area or
in foreign countries (primarily Denmark),
quite a few of them never returning back to
Suðuroy for permanent settlement. The fu-
ture of the island according to a concerned
boy from the small village Akrar (Holm,
1999):
In many places the population will grow,
and everything is going to depend on com-
puters, but in my hometown I don’t believe
anything is going to change, bul I hope that
people will settle down here in the future.
A Porkeri boy reflects on his working
priorities, which differ from the ‘normal’
choice of men in his community:
Several men [from Porkeri] are sailors
and make lot s of money, and some young
people are sailors too. Two classmates of
mine were on a ship last summer [...] I plan
to study on a higher level, because I believe
that this will better my opportunities. If one
wants to get a good job, one has to get the
necessary education.
The dilemma of the youths is to choose
between the fisheries and a higher educa-
tion; between a fast but insecure income