Herøy is øyMøa municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the town of Fosnavåg on the island of Bergsøya. The industrial area of Eggesbønes is located south of Fosnavåg on the same island. The Runde Environmental Centre is located in the northern part of the municipality on Runde island. Other population centres in Herøy include the villages of Leikong, Kvalsund, or Moltustranda.
The municipality is the 320th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Herøy is the 123rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,765. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 0.4% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
The prestegjeld (parish) of Herøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1867, the western district of Herøy was separated to become the new Sande Municipality. This left Herøy municipality with 1,999 residents. On 1 January 1873, an area of Sande (population: 362) was transferred back to Herøy. On 1 January 1889, the Eiksund area and Ekø island (population: 119) were transferred from Sande to Herøy.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, three farms in the Gurskedalen valley (population: 25) were transferred from Herøy to Sande. Also on that date, the Eiksund area and the Eika island (population: 222) were transferred from Herøy to neighboring Ulstein Municipality.
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after an archipelago of small islands (). The first element is which means "army". The word here is referring to the idea of skipaherr which means "military fleet", referring to the many islands grouped together. The last element is which means "island". Prior to 1918, the name was written Herø.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 27 March 1987. The official blazon is "Azure, two ship bows argent issuant from the flanks" (). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is two stems of a ship. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. This design was chosen to represent the 7th century Kvalsund boats found in the municipality. The arms were designed by Even Jarl Skoglund. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches
The Church of Norway has three parishes () within the municipality of Herøy. It is part of the Søre Sunnmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.
Government
All municipalities in Norway are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality falls under the Møre og Romsdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.
Municipal council
The municipal council () of Herøy is made up of 33 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:
Mayors
The mayors of Herøy:
1837–1843: Christoffer Mathias Rønneberg
1844–1845: Peter Wilhelm L'orange
1846–1849: Aage Schavland
1850–1851: Knut A. Brekke
1852–1853: Knut R. Bjørlykke
1854–1857: Aage Schavland
1858–1872: Ole Thorseth
1873–1876: Peter M. Jacobsen
1877–1886: Ole Thorseth (H) 1887–1888: Peter M. Jacobsen 1889–1892: Annanias Stavøstrand (MV) 1893–1894: Gustav Wiig (H) 1895–1907: Severin Sundnes (H) 1908–1917: Rasmus Moltu (V) 1918–1919: Paul Moltu (V) 1920–1922: Lars Havåg (V) 1923–1931: Abel Berge (V) 1932–1934: Hans P.J. Runde 1935–1941: Ole Garvik (V) 1942–1945: Hjalmar Jacobsen (NS) 1945–1947: Ole Garvik (V) 1948–1955: Ivar Nærø 1956–1958: Bjarne Rekdal (Ap) 1958–1959: Olav Thorseth 1960–1961: Magnus Berge 1962–1971: Rolf Ervik 1972–1975: Knut Nærø 1976–1979: Einar Leinebø 1980–1987: Charles Remø (H) 1988–1989: Per Rolf Sævik (KrF) 1990–1995: Svein Gjelseth (Ap) 1995–1999: Leif G. Igesund (KrF) 1999–2003: Svein Gjelseth (Ap) 2003–2019: Arnulf Goksøyr (H) 2019-present: Bjørn-Halvor Prytz (Ap)