Firda Seafood owner tears into Norwegian Labour Party’s plan, “world-leading fantasies while seafood is ignored”.
Firda Seafood Group owner Ola Braanaas has launched a savage attack on Norway’s governing Labour Party, accusing it of sidelining the seafood industry while pouring public money into what he described as a familiar cycle of failed prestige projects.
In a LinkedIn post reacting to Labour’s newly presented “Plan for Norway”, Braanaas said the country had seen the similar promises repeatedly over the years.
“Have you heard it before?” he wrote. “World-leading in IT. A moon landing at Mongstad. Battery factories.”
He then turned his fire on the government’s latest ambitions, adding: “Now we are apparently going to become world-leading in space. Yet another fantastic opportunity for the government to waste money.”
Braanaas said the omission of seafood from the plan was glaring, given its role as one of Norway’s most important export industries.
“The seafood industry is not mentioned with a single word in the Labour Party’s plan for Norway,” he wrote, adding that “Norwegian investors are being forced out.”
He went on to argue that current policy was actively discouraging entrepreneurship and private investment, suggesting that founders and investors were being pushed away rather than supported.
“Maybe the idea is to send entrepreneurs, investors and other creative souls out into outer space once and for all,” he wrote.
The comments reflect growing anger within parts of Norway’s seafood sector over tax policy, capital flight and what critics see as an increasing focus on state-led industrial projects at the expense of established, globally competitive export industries.
