Båtsfjord

Båtsfjord kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Finnmark within Norway
Båtsfjord within Finnmark
Coordinates: 70°38′7″N 29°43′15″E / 70.63528°N 29.72083°E / 70.63528; 29.72083Coordinates: 70°38′7″N 29°43′15″E / 70.63528°N 29.72083°E / 70.63528; 29.72083
Country	Norway
County	Finnmark
Administrative centre	Båtsfjord
Government
• Mayor (2011)	Geir Knutsen (Ap)
Area
• Total	1,433 km2 (553 sq mi)
• Land	1,415 km2 (546 sq mi)
Area rank	58 in Norway
Population (2012 1.Jan)
• Total	2,089 from last year
• Rank	328 in Norway
• Density	1.45/km2 (3.8/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	-13.2 %
Demonym	Båtsfjording[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-2028
Official language form	Neutral
Website	www.batsfjord.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Båtsfjord is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Båtsfjord.

Båtsfjord

Vardø herred ("the rural district of Vardø") was separated from the town of Vardø in 1868 to be a municipality of its own. In 1957, the municipality was renamed Båtsfjord. The eastern part of the municipality was merged back into Vardø on 1 January 1964.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name is Botnsfjorðr. The first element is the genitive case of botn which means "the innermost part of a fjord".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 19 April 1985. The arms show a fish hook as a symbol for the great economic importance of fishing and fish processing in the municipality. The shape of the hook was derived from ancient Stone Age hooks found in the municipality.^[2]

Geography

The municipality is situated on the north-eastern coast of the peninsula of Varangerhalvøya. Previously, there were several villages along this barren coast, but today everyone lives in the town of Båtsfjord, with a sheltered situation at the end of the Båtsfjord inlet. Båtsfjord Airport is a new, modern airport, and the hurtigruten (coastal express ferry) has a scheduled stop at Båtsfjord.

Hamningberg fishing village

The most interesting attraction is Hamningberg, an abandoned fishing village on the outer coast, with well-preserved 19th century wooden houses, a unique example of old architecture in a county so devastated by World War II. Now it is used for summer stays.

Birdlife

The municipality covers an area of 1,433 square kilometres (553 sq mi) including Finnmark's highest mountain pass over Ordofjell at 400 meters above sea level. With the Barents Sea pounding the rocky coastline, Båtsfjord is at the mercy of the elements, but it is a great place to visit with the worlds northern most Gannet colony to be found on the stack at Syltefjordstauran. The two pairs that were discovered in 1961 have now grown to well over 300 pairs. The Northern Gannet is just one of many species that can be seen.

Popular culture

Båtsfjord was used in the cartoon Metalocalypse's first episode, "The Curse of DethKlok." In the episode thousands of people from around the world travel to Båtsfjord to hear the main characters, a death metal band named DethKlok play a little-over 1 minute jingle promoting a fictional coffee company. The episode features a large amount of death by various means, mainly the parachuted stage missing its landing spot. The episode also features James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett of Metallica fame.

References

External links

• Media related to Båtsfjord at Wikimedia Commons
• Pictures of Wild life and nature in Båtsfjord

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