Fedje

Fedje kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Hordaland within Norway
Fedje within Hordaland
Coordinates: 60°46′8″N 4°43′50″E
Country	Norway
County	Hordaland
District	Nordhordland
Administrative centre	Fedje
Government
• Mayor (2007)	Kristin Handeland (Ap)
Area
• Total	9 km2 (3 sq mi)
• Land	9 km2 (3 sq mi)
Area rank	431 in Norway
Population (2008)
• Total	596
• Rank	423 in Norway
• Density	66/km2 (170/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	-11.3 %
Demonym	Fedjing
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1265
Official language form	Nynorsk
Website	www.fedje.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1951	940	—
1960	932	−0.9%
1970	873	−6.3%
1980	849	−2.7%
1990	730	−14.0%
2000	682	−6.6%
2007	620	−9.1%
2008	596	−3.9%
2009	596	+0.0%
Source: Statistics Norway.

Fedje is an island municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Fedje was separated from Austrheim on 1 January 1947.

The main island of Fedje is surrounded by about 125 smaller islands and rocks mostly north of the main island, and the name Fedje applies both to the main island, and to all the islands and rocks as a whole. Fedje is an island, covering a total area of about 7.4 square kilometres. Counting the main island and the smaller islands, the area is about 9.4 square kilometres. It has a population of approximately 600 people. The traditional economic activity is fishing.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Feðjar, closely related to gotic faþa, "fence", "wall", here in the meaning row of islands or archipelago, separating the inshore waters from the ocean.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted in 1990 and they show two silver oars on a blue background. This symbolizes the rich boating history of this island municipality.

See also: Herøy and Lenvik

Education

Fedje has an elementary school, and a junior high school, both of which are situated in the center of the island, and in the same building. The school is also used as a movie theater twice a week.

History

Kræmmerholmen.

There are traces of human activity on Fedje from as long as 4,000 years ago. In the 18th century, Fedje was an important trading place, with the small island Kræmmerholmen being the location where the trading took place. Kræmmerholmen was reopened in 1991, and was a restaurant/hotel/museum area, but closed in September 2008. Fedje was previously a substantial producer of peat. The peat led to the construction of a railway. The railway was given up together with the peat industry in 1920.

During the Second World War Fedje was occupied by over 300 German soldiers. There are still remains of the German cannons and bunkers all over the island, especially in the western part close to the traffic station, which is actually built on the remains of a German radar station.

In February 1945 the German submarine U-864 was sunk by British naval forces outside western Fedje. The only instance in history of a submarine being sunk by another sub. The U-boat was, unfortunately for the environment, loaded with 70 tons of mercury. The mercury, which was being shipped to Japan, is now resting on the bottom of the North Sea 150 metres below the surface, as a potential environmental disaster like the Minamata disaster in Japan, in the 1960s. In 2009 it was decided to raise the submarine.

On 12 January 2007, M/V Server sunk outside Fedje. The ship leaked oil and caused major environmental damage. But due to intensive efforts to clean the coves and beaches, very few traces can be found today.

Geography

The highest point on Fedje is the 42-meter-high hill called Fedjebjørnen. The largest lake is Storevatnet.

Islands

The best known smaller island is called Holmengrå. Holmengrå has a 35-metre tall lighthouse. In the southern part of Fedje which is called Stormark, there is a lighthouse called Hellisøy fyr, maybe the most famous feature of Fedje. Hellisøy fyr was built in 1855, and is 32.3 metres tall, painted red and white. Fedje travel information

People

The population of the island community is decreasing due to the high percentage of people over 60 years (25% as of 1 January 2003), and because many people decide to move from the island, many because of the lack of work. Most of the people live on the lagoon-like northern part of the island, in the vicinity of the grocery shop, the church and the ferry. Fedje is inhabited by many fishermen and whalers, but the last fishingboat/whaler was sold from the island January 2009.

Sports

The main sporting activity on Fedje is football, which can be played on the football grounds in the eastern part of the island. The football ground is also the home ground of the local football team called Fedje A-lag. The club is currently playing in the Norwegian 6th division. Swimming is also popular, as there is a beautiful beach located on Fedje, which is to be found in the centre of the island on the shoreline of Lake Husavatnet. The water is clean and brackish, as a freshwater spring runs out in the vicinity of the beach.

Infrastructure

There is an important traffic-station on Fedje. The station surveils the coastal sea-traffic. The island is supplied with power, telephone and internet cables from an underwater cordless router to the mainland. A ferry, crossing 20 times a day, connects Fedje to the mainland. The voyage lasts for about 30 minutes. Fedje is about a 1 hour 40 minute drive (including a 30-minute ferry voyage) from the city of Bergen.

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Hordaland travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Fedje travel guide from Wikivoyage