With high boots, Vidar Skiri (75) stands in the river Rauma. Here he has been fishing for salmon since he was a little boy with home-made bamboo stong. But a small parasite has threatened life in Norwegian watercourses, the salmon parasite gyrodactylus salaris. Skiri has spent 40 years eradicating it. – It could be a disaster. The parasite could have killed all the salmon in Norway. Imagine the country without salmon, says Skiri. The parasite was discovered in juvenile salmon in 1975 and is said to have first been introduced via infected salmon from Sweden. In the infected watercourses, the salmon have been critically endangered or lost. Vidar Skiri thinks the salmon parasite could have exterminated all salmon in the country. The 75-year-old now works as an acquaintance and clapper for fishing tourists by the river Rauma. Photo: Tore Ellingseter / news Approaching extinction – We see the end of a long history of fighting gyrodactylus. I’m a happy man, smiles Jarle Steinkjer. He is a project leader in the Norwegian Environment Agency. 51 watercourses in the country have been infected. It now states that to treat eight watercourses in the regions Driva and Drammen. When the treatment is completed in 2026, Steinkjer believes that the salmon parasite will be extinct in Norway. Jarle Steinkjer in the Norwegian Environment Agency believes that the salmon parasite will be extinct in a few years. Photo: Tore Ellingseter / news – Great success A new report from the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (Nina) concludes that the work of eradicating the parasite in infected rivers is a great and unique success, both nationally and internationally. The government has spent a staggering one billion kroner to overcome the parasite. It is the herbicide rotenone that has our most important remedy. But its use has been controversial because the poison not only kills the parasite, but also the fish. – It is a dramatic effect to kill all the fish. But in domestic animals, you also slaughter the entire population if you get a disease, says Steinkjer. He explains that salmon pups that become infected suffer a slow death. Critical of rotenone Ruben Mjelde Oddekalv in the Norwegian Environmental Protection Association is critical of the use of rotenone. Photo: Adrian Nyhammer Olsen / news Leader of the Norwegian Environmental Protection Association, Ruben Mjelde Oddekalv, thinks the fight against the salmon parasite has had an extremely high price for all life in the rivers. – One kills all life that breathes with gills to take care of a species. Calling it a unique success tastes a little bitter, says Oddekalv. In recent years, new methods have been developed that do not kill the fish and Oddekalv hopes that the chapter on rotenone is complete. This summer, an attempt will be made to get rid of the parasite in Driva with a chlorine treatment. – Biggest saying in history In Rauma, the fishing tourists get a bite on the rod, but they are very happy to let the salmon out into the watercourse. The river has recovered from the parasite, but so far the fish stock is much smaller than before it was re-established. For Vidar Skiri, who has spent so many years fighting the parasite, it is a joy to know that in a few years it may be gone from all watercourses. – It is the largest says Norwegian nature management has ever had. I do not come up with other more important issues than stopping the parasite attack in our rivers, says Skiri. In Rauma, there is a pacifier on a fishing rod, but the fish are seen in the river. Photo: Tore Ellingseter / news
ttn-69
Soon the salmon parasite Gyrodactylus salaris will probably be away from Norwegian rivers – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
