– When people get free salmon, why should they pay a hundred kroner, or two hundred kroner for a normal salmon, says Inge Arne Eriksen. The leader of the Sea Sami business organization BIVDU fears that this summer will be the hook on the door for many professional fishermen when humpback salmon invade Norwegian rivers. But the unwanted fish are not to blame. The state gets it. The Norwegian Environment Agency has given permission to a fish farm and other industry to collect all humpback salmon caught in the rivers. They get the fish for free, or at below market price. Inge Arne Eriksen fears sea salmon fishermen will be outcompeted by humpback salmon because the fishing industry gets it for free, or cheaply. Photo: Hanne Wilhelms / news Believes they are being outcompeted Eriksen believes this is a breach of the competition rules in the EEA agreement. The fact that fish farms do not have to pay anything for the fish will be able to outcompete sea salmon fishermen, who will probably struggle to sell normal salmon to the same fish farms. BIVDU will therefore report the case to Esa. – It is so serious that government funds are used to destroy an industry. In 2021, large quantities of humpback salmon became rubbish. To avoid this, agreements have been made with fish farms that collect all the fish. Photo: Hanne Wilhelms / Hanne Wilhelms The fish must be handled It is especially the rivers in Finnmark that millions of humpback salmon will try to spawn this summer. Half a million of them are expected in the Tanavassdraget alone. Humpback salmon traps are set in almost all the rivers to catch the fish, and this is where the fishing industry comes into play. Senior advisor Eirik Frøiland in the Norwegian Environment Agency says that the agreements on the collection of fish vary from river to river, but that they are primarily dependent on all fish being collected. In most of the rivers, the agreement he is talking about is secret, while humpback salmon will be free to catch in the Tanavassdraget. – Our goal is to fight the humpback salmon, which is a popular species among Norwegian students. That job is not done when the fish is killed. The fish must also be removed from the river bank. Eirik Frøiland in the Norwegian Environment Directorate says the aim is to combat humpback salmon in Norwegian rivers. The authorities believe it is best to take the fish out of fish traps near or in the river. Photo: Lars Åke Andersen / State administrator in Troms and Finnmark Must also take fish of poor quality Frøiland says they depend on a good system that can handle large quantities of dead fish. Vardøbruket is one of the players who will bring in fish, including from the Tanaelva. – They collect fish daily. They must bring everything, regardless of quality and quantity, says Frøiland. The reason that Vardøbruket will not pay for the fish is that the quality is uncertain. Frøiland says the salmon trap where the fish are taken out is far up the river. Beyond the summer, much of the fish may be inedible. – It is the buyer’s risk what they get in terms of both quantity and quality. But we are satisfied that someone will take the risk and try to make food from it, instead of it becoming a waste problem. At the same time, Vardøbruket has to pay for the logistics. Frøiland is confident that the Norwegian Environment Agency is not breaking the regulations in the way they handle humpback salmon. – This concerns the fight against an introduced species, and there are no common rules about this in the EEA agreement, he says. Traps, such as here in Vestre-Jakobselv in Vadsø, have been set up in a number of rivers in Finnmark ahead of this year’s migration of humpback salmon. Photo: news Do not want to outcompete sea salmon fishermen Two years ago, the large quantities of humpback salmon were an environmental problem, and much ended up as rubbish. Morgan Degerstrøm is general manager of Vardøbruket. He says they don’t want to compete with local sea salmon fishermen by bringing in free humpback salmon. – The local sea salmon fishermen have been fishing for humpback salmon for a number of years, and I do not want to stifle the market for them. So most of what we produce probably goes to the USA and Europe. Morgan Degerstrøm hopes the humpback salmon can become an extra leg to stand on for the local business community Photo: private He believes that the humpback salmon can become a resource, and an extra leg to stand on for the business community in Eastern Finnmark. Vardøbruket has an agreement to collect humpback salmon from the Tana and six other rivers in Varanger. – We are used to handling large quantities of fish, and the fish farm is part of a larger group that can help if needed. – We also have a good collaboration with the seafood line at Vardø upper secondary school, so we can test roe and other food products there. Vardøbruket will use creative students at the seafood line when they will produce food from humpback salmon. Want humpback salmon to be fished in the sea BIVDU has long fought for most humpback salmon to be fished in the sea, before it swims up the rivers. In this way, sea salmon fishermen can take part in the harvest of humpback salmon and at the same time earn money from it. The Scientific Council for Salmon Management has concluded that the bycatch of Atlantic salmon, sea trout and sea trout will be too high if sea salmon fishing is to be expanded after humpback salmon. But Inge Arne Eriksen believes that sea salmon fishermen have the knowledge needed to conduct targeted fishing for humpback salmon in the sea. – We have people, we have boats, we have equipment. But there is no political will to implement this. Now the authorities are destroying the market for salmon instead.
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Fishermen complain about humpback salmon fishing to Esa for breach of competition rules – news Troms and Finnmark
