Bokn

General information

The municipality of Bokn (historically spelled Bukken) was established in 1849 when it was separated from the large municipality of Skudenes. Initially, Bokn had 1,035 residents. The borders of Bokn have not changed since that time.

Name

The municipality is named after the islands of Austre Bokn and Vestre Bokn (Old Norse: Bókn). The name is probably very old and its meaning is unknown. Before 1889, the name was written "Bukken".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 8 August 1986. The arms are blue with six silver/white circles in the shape of a triangle. The blue background represents the sea and the 6 circles represent silver coins, which symbolize the richness from the sea since it is an island municipality and therefore dependent on fishing and sailing.

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Bokn. It is part of the Haugaland deanery in the Diocese of Stavanger.

Buildings and structures

There is a 168-metre (551 ft) tall guyed mast for FM-/TV-broadcasting at located at 59.220156°N 5.428281°E / 59.220156; 5.428281.

Geography

The island municipality of Bokn is located on the northern side of the Boknafjorden, at the southern end of the Karmsundet strait. The island of Karmøy lies to the west and the mainland of Tysvær is located to the northeast. The island municipality of Kvitsøy lies south of Bokn and the island municipality of Rennesøy lies to the southeast of Bokn.

Bokn is one of the smallest municipalities in Rogaland, consisting of three main islands: Ognøya, Austre Bokn, and Vestre Bokn. There are also some smaller, uninhabited islands surrounding the main islands.

The islands are rugged with lots of small hills with small lakes in the valleys. The hills are largely covered with heather, but bushes and trees are increasingly competing, especially birch. The highest point is the 297-metre (974 ft) high Boknafjellet, a small mountain on Vestre Bokn island.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Bokn, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Bokn is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to every four years. For 2015–2019, the party breakdown is as follows:

Transportation

The three islands of Bokn are now linked via bridges to Tysvær municipality on the mainland. These bridges are part of the European route E39 highway and they are part of the main coastal highway between the cities of Stavanger and Bergen. There is a ferry connection southward across the Boknafjorden to Rennesøy which is connected by road to Stavanger. The planned Rogfast undersea tunnel will directly connect both sides of the Boknafjorden from Stavanger to Bokn, with a planned completion date of 2023.

Economy

Apart from a factory producing various tanks made of glassfiber-reinforced plastic (Bokn Plast), there is no industry on the islands other than some fish farming. People have traditionally lived off fishing and farming, but more recently, some work has been in the North Sea petroleum industry. Tourism is likely to play a bigger part in the future.