Torsken is a former municipality that was located on the western coast of the large island of Senja in the old Troms county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1902 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into the new Senja Municipality. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Gryllefjord. Other larger villages in Torsken municipality included the villages of Torsken, Medby, and Flakstadvåg. The historic Torsken Church in the village of Torsken dates back to the 18th century. Ånderdalen National Park was partially located inside the old borders of Torsken and neighboring Tranøy municipalities. At the time of its dissolution as a municipality on 1 January 2020, the municipality was the 310th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Torsken was also the 401st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 943. The municipality's population density was and its population has decreased by 0.6% over the previous decade.
General information
The municipality of Torsken was established on 1 January 1902 when it was separated from the municipality of Berg. The initial population of Torsken was 1,229. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the Rødsand area of Torsken was transferred to the neighboring Tranøy Municipality. In March 2017, the Parliament of Norway voted to merge the municipalities of Berg, Torsken, Lenvik, and Tranøy. The new municipality will encompass the whole island of Senja plus part of the mainland. The new municipality will be established on 1 January 2020 as Senja Municipality.
Name
The municipality is named after the old Torsken farm, since the first Torsken Church was built there. The farm is named after Torsken mountain, and that name is probably derived from Norse þoskr which means "cod".
Coat of arms
The coat of arms is from modern times; they were granted on 23 March 1990. The arms show a gold-colored anchor cross on a black background. It is a symbol for both Christianity and the importance of the local harbor. The economy of Torsken is largely dependent on its harbors and an anchor is an appropriate symbol.
Most of the inhabitants live in the fishing village of Gryllefjord in the northern part of the municipality. The second most important village is Torsken, only a few kilometers to the south. Kaldfarnes/Medby, Grunnfarnes, and Flakstadvåg are other fishing villages further south. The municipality is close to the resources of the major fishing grounds off the Vesterålen archipelago, and 2004 landed 9.8 million tons of fish with a value of for fish-processing in Torsken, Gryllefjord, Kaldfarnes, and Grunnfarnes. Most people work in the fields of fishing or fish processing. The municipality has few productive forests, but there are some spruce trees planted in sheltered areas. In the southern parts of Torsken there is some usable farmland. There are five farms with more than of agricultural land in the entire municipality.
Transportation
The Andenes–Gryllefjord Ferry that goes across the Andfjorden to Andenes on the island of Andøya is operated during about two months each summer. The road from the northern part of the municipality to Kaldfarnes, Grunnfarnes, and Flakstadvåg is far from direct. One must drive north and then east to Berg and then south to Tranøy before turning northwest and returning to Torsken. These are the only road connections from the rest of Norway to Torsken.
The municipal council of Torsken was made up of 15 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
