In Norway, Fishermen’s Sales Organisations by law have the exclusive rights to organise the ex-vessel sale of wild caught fish. The two largest of these organisations that manages sales of demersal species are Norges Råfisklag (NR) and Sunnmøre-Romsdal Fiskesalgslag (SUROFI). NR oversee ex-vessel sales of fish in Nord-Møre and northwards, including the North-Norwegian counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, while SUROFI organise ex-vessel sales in Sunnmøre-Romsdal in the north-western part of Norway. Contract is the dominant exchange method used in the NR area, although auctions have been introduced for frozen fish in the whole area and fresh fish in the southernmost part of its area. At contract sale, formal and informal contract relationship may exist in seasons or longer period of time.
In the county of Møre-Romsdal, auction is the dominant exchange method due to the fact that SUROFI organises the major part of the landings in the area, uses auctions and has done so since the late 1940’s. An another reason is that SUROFI and NR co-operate in organising a fish auction, TRIPPEL, where mainly larger vessels sell their catch. Catches of fresh fish handled through the TRIPPEL or SUROFI’s auction are sold while still onboard the vessel and the whole boatload constitutes the unit of sale. The main specie/species in the catch is auctioned, while the bycatch of other species and/or sizes get a fixed price. In cases were the catch from each vessel is small compared to what the buyers wants, catch from several vessels may be aggregated and sold as a unit. This practice reflects the relative mobility of the boats and the dispersed location of the buyers inaccessible by road. Similarly, to avoid the costly congregation of buyers at one location, bidding takes place by telephone, fax or Internet.