Vestfjord
| Vestfjord | ||
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 The Vestfjord with the "Lofoten Wall" |
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| Waters | European Arctic Ocean | |
| Land mass | Scandinavian peninsula | |
| Geographical location | 68 ° 3 ' N , 14 ° 46' E | |
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| length | approx. 200 km | |
The Vestfjord is the bay that separates the Lofoten region's chain of islands from mainland Norway . The importance of the Vestfjord lies in the fact that the cod spawns in this bay , which comes from the Barents Sea every spring . Although the importance of fishing for cod by catch quotas of the EU fell considerably, 2005 or 37,000 tonnes of cod were caught in the Vestfjord.
Geographical location
The “gateway” to the Vestfjord is the city of Bodø , which is about 100 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle . From there, the Vestfjord attracts about 200 kilometers to the northeast to the Vesterålen -Insel Hinnøya . The most important cities on the Vestfjord, along with Bodø, are the Lofoten cities of Svolvær and Stamsund , both of which are landing stations for Hurtigruten ships . There are ferry connections between Bodø and Moskenes near Sørvågen and between Skutvika and Svolvær . Famous is the maelstrom or Moskenstraumen in the Vestfjord, which plays a role in literature for example in Jules Verne in his novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and in Edgar Allan Poe . The maelstrom is a tidal current that is created by the fact that at high tide the water is pressed with tremendous force through the narrow gap between the Lofoten islands Moskenesøy and Værøy .
climate
The Vestfjord lies beyond the Arctic Circle , about the same height as northern Alaska and Central Greenland. Nevertheless, the climate for these high latitudes is very mild, because the Gulf Stream ensures that the water when the sun does not come in the winter six weeks over the horizon and the polar night only polar lights is illuminated, remain free of ice. Even in winter, the temperature hardly falls below −10 degrees Celsius. However, the winters are long - spring does not begin until the end of May and it can snow again at the end of September. Summers can be quite warm - up to 30 degrees are quite possible in August. Then the Norwegians also bathe in the Arctic Ocean . In summer the sun does not set over the Vestfjord for four to six weeks (depending on latitude ) and the midnight sun offers a fascinating spectacle.
economy
The Vestfjord was very important to Norwegian society, as thousands of fishermen have met here in February and March since the 12th century to hunt cod , also known as cod or skrei . The fish came from the Barents Sea in the north to spawn here. The Norwegians dried the fish and it was marketed as clipfish and stockfish ; the Italians and Portuguese in particular bought it to feed the crews of their merchant ships, which were often on the move for months. In these countries, the stockfish is still considered a delicacy today . Today the importance of cod fishing for Norway has diminished and the source of the country's prosperity is now oil. Nevertheless, hundreds of fishermen still come every year to hunt cod in the Vestfjord. Numerous fish factories process the catch on the coast, and on the shore, especially on the offshore archipelago of Lofoten, the large drying racks on which the salted cod is drying can be seen until mid-June. In March there is the world championship in cod fishing in the fjord for amateur anglers - an indication that the coasts of the Vestfjord are now very touristy. In addition to cod, anglers will also find halibut , wolffish , haddock , saithe , herring and many other delicacies. Also the whaling has the Vestfjord tradition. Today, however, the few whalers that still exist hunt, mainly on the high seas. With a bit of luck, porpoises and killer whales and sometimes even larger specimens of the whale family can be seen in the Vestfjord, cavorting in the rich fishing grounds.
