Jan Mayen - Economy

Economy

Jan Mayen Island has one exploitable natural resource, gravel, from the site at Trongskaret. Other than this, economic activity is limited to providing services for employees of Norway's radio communications and meteorological stations located on the island. Jan Mayen has one unpaved airstrip, Jan Mayensfield, which is about 1,585 m (5,200 ft) long, and the 124.1 km (77.1 mi) of coast has no ports or harbours, only offshore anchorages.

There are important fishing resources, and the existence of Jan Mayen establishes a large Exclusive Economic Zone around it. A modern-day dispute between Norway and Denmark regarding the fishing exclusion zone between Jan Mayen and Greenland was settled in 1988 granting Denmark the greater area of sovereignty. Significant deposits of oil and gas are suspected by geologists to lie below Jan Mayen's surrounding seafloors.

Jan Mayen Island is an integral part of the Kingdom of Norway, and it is not considered to be a dependency with some special status. Since 1995, Jan Mayen has been administered by the County Governor (fylkesmann) of the northern Norwegian county of Nordland to which it is closest. However, some authority over Jan Mayen has been assigned to the station commander of the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation, a branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces.