The matter summed up: The Norwegian Environment Agency gives gloomy predictions for this year’s salmon fishing. Technical director Helge Axel Dyrendal believes that salmon fishing as we know it is coming to an end. The decline applies to salmon rivers throughout the country, and the experts are unsure of the reasons. Survival in the sea is very important for how many wild salmon return to the rivers, Dyrendal believes. Day-to-day manager of Beiarelva, Robert Selfors, is still optimistic. Tore Vatne, section leader at the State Administrator in Nordland, says it is difficult to be optimistic about this year’s salmon fishing. At the same time, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, as there were fewer humpback salmon than expected last year. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – There he was! – Yes! The cheer came from Sindre Stokkland, who caught the salmon of a lifetime in the Beiarelva in 2021. One of the good years: In the peak year 2019, a total of nine tonnes of salmon were caught. But there are fewer such shouts of jubilation along the river banks of the Beiarelva. Last year, the catch here was down to three tonnes, a full six tonnes less than four years earlier. The decline affects salmon rivers throughout the country and the experts are scratching their heads. Some have pointed to the effect of salmon lice escaping from the farms, a theory that is rejected by, among others, Sjømat Noreg. Nor can the Norwegian Environment Agency give any unequivocal answer that points in a specific direction. The reasons are complex. But part of the explanation lies in a grim statistic. Salmon fisherman Sindre Stokkan satisfied with the catch three years ago. Department director: – Worst ever In many Norwegian waterways, salmon fishing is already underway. And although last year’s salmon season was bad for wild salmon, which is already threatened with extinction, Helge Axel Dyrendal describes the situation now as even worse. He is specialist director in the Norwegian Environment Agency, and is concerned about the development of the endangered salmon. – It is incomprehensibly bad. When you look at what has been reported to the various salmon exchanges, I would say that this is in any case the worst start I can ever think of. The last time he checked for Surna in Nordmøre, they had caught three salmon. Also Gaula, Namsen and Orkla are all below what is normal at a given time. – I think that the salmon fishing we have been used to has is coming to an end, says Dyrendal. Orkla, “kingdom of salmon” is a river in Trøndelag and Innlandet county. Photo: Monica Olsbakk Hage From 20 to 2 per cent Dyrendal explains that survival in the sea is of great importance for how many wild salmon return to the rivers. In some years, sea survival, i.e. the amount of fish that come back as mature fish out of what went out, has been up to 20 per cent. That is if you go way back in time. Whereas in recent times the figure for the same is down to 2 percent. – Then there will be very little fish coming in compared to the happy 70s and 80s. Many salmon stocks in Norway are threatened or have already been lost and have halved since the 1980s, states the Norwegian Environment Agency. Namsen in Trøndelag is also below normal. Photo: Eivind Aabakken / news He refers to sea salmon fishing, which used to be a coastal culture that spread along the entire coast from the wedge nota around 1850-1870, with up to 9,000 seines at most. – Today there are only a few hundred fishermen, mostly in Finnmark, who are still doing this. In spite of that, you struggle to reach the production targets in the rivers, and that means that even then you have to start cutting back even more on fishing. Because salmon fishing has been reduced in both sea and river. Population halved since 1980 In 2015, the salmon population was described as viable. In 2021, however, he was marked as near threatened in the Species Data Bank and thus redlisted. The reason is a reduction in the salmon population. According to the Norwegian Environment Agency, there are three things that pose the greatest threat to wild salmon: Escaped farmed fish Salmon lice Pukkellaks Tore Vatne, section leader at the State Administrator in Nordland, says it is difficult to be optimistic about this year’s salmon fishing. – Last year was perhaps the weakest year we have had in the last thirty years. There were historically weak catches of both salmon and sea otters last year. And unusually few spawning salmon were recorded in many of the rivers. – It will be exciting to see what happens. It’s fun if it works, says Vatne. Photo: Vilde Bratland Erikstad / news In addition, the genetics in large salmon waterways is weakened due to long-term crossing of escaped salmon from farms. But there may be light at the end of the tunnel, according to Vatne. – It is something positive. Last year we caught very few humpback salmon, much less than we had feared. There are also certain waterways where an increase in wild salmon is expected, as a result of Nordland becoming gyro-free. And in Beiarn they are positive so far. These are the factors that come into play: Escaped farmed salmon leads to genetic changes in the wild salmon, and productivity can therefore be negatively affected. Escaped farmed salmon can also infect wild salmon with various diseases. An unnatural amount of salmon lice as a result of farming is a significant threat to the salmon, the Norwegian Environment Agency believes. Salmon lice cause increased mortality in wild salmon over increasingly large parts of the country. Humpback salmon is a new major threat, and knowledge of its effects is poor. At the same time, there is great uncertainty about future developments. To reduce the risk of damage to wild salmon, measures are being taken against humpback salmon, the Norwegian Environment Agency states. The salmon parasite Gyrodactylus salaris has been detected in 51 watercourses in Norway. Acidification due to acid rain is an important reason why salmon populations were exterminated, or threatened, in several Norwegian waterways in southern parts of the country. A third of the Norwegian salmon waterways are affected by river regulations. According to the Norwegian Environment Agency, it is not known to what extent climate change affects salmon today, but it is expected that they will change the salmon’s living conditions in the future. Other man-made influencing factors Various physical interventions in waterways, the introduction and spread of alien species and overtaxation by fishing can also threaten the salmon stocks. Today, fishing is well regulated and poses little threat to salmon populations, states the Norwegian Environment Agency. Source: Miljødirektoratet.no Still believe Robert Selfors in Beiarn municipality is passionate about salmon fishing. As day-to-day manager of the Beiarelva, he is in full swing with preparations for this year’s salmon fishing, which starts this weekend. Despite the dramatic decline that worries him, he is optimistic. – It is because we had four years of fantastic return of spawning fish in 2016-2019. The offspring from the four years will come here this year and the next couple of years. Robert Selfors is optimistic about better times for the salmon population. Photo: Lars-Petter Kalkenberg / Lars-Petter Kalkenberg, news – I said the same thing last year: Maybe they are actually alive, but they chose to stay in the sea for another year and come back as intermediate salmon. So there is still hope, confirms Selfors. Many people come from afar to Beiarn in the hope of catching the big salmon. The big day for salmon fishing in the whole country is 15 June. These rivers open on 15 June Vestland: Granvin Loneelva Stryneelva Etneelvo Æneselva Vosso Bolstad Rogaland: Arendal: Nidelva / Arendal River Møre and Romsdal: Isa and Glutra Toåa Strandaelva Austefjordelva Solnørelva Vikelva (Bjørke) Hildreelva Nåsavasdraget Bådalselva Fetvassdraget Nordland: Trøndelag: Teksdalselva Oldeleva Vigda Kje led: Elveguiden.no – We have to take steps that contribute to sustainability and not a large withdrawal, but a moderate withdrawal that allows us to build up the stock again, says Selfors about the low population of wild salmon, says Selfors. Calls for measures Selfors calls for greater research efforts in the sea to find the cause of the sharp decline. Such as, for example, studying migration patterns and survival rates. – Then we at least have the opportunity to take action because we know what needs to be done, then we have a reason. But when we stand there as a question mark and do not know what is happening, then we are paralyzed, he says. – National and local authorities must take this responsibility fully because we are dealing with a red-listed species. Published 14.06.2024, at 14.59
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– The salmon fishing we have been accustomed to is coming to an end – news Nordland
