Report on salmon fishing in Norway:
"It has never been worse"

A report from the Scientific Advisory Committee for Salmon Management (VRL), cited by Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, warns that wild salmon are under serious pressure from lice originating in fish farms and a changing climate.

"It has never been worse," says Torbjørn Forseth, senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.

Released just days before the start of the annual salmon fishing season, VRL’s report reveals that more than one-third of salmon populations last year lacked a surplus that could be sustainably fished.

The situation was worst in Central Norway, where less than half of the stocks had a harvestable surplus.

Last year, only 323,000 salmon returned to the rivers to spawn – compared to over a million in the 1980s.

In addition to salmon lice and climate change, other threats include escaped farmed salmon, disease transmission from fish farming, invasive pink salmon, and the impacts of hydropower regulations.

"Unfortunately, there's no improvement in the risk factors. The situation is dramatic," says Forseth.

If the trend continues, sustaining regular salmon fishing may no longer be feasible.

"The salmon fishery is in dire straits. Without a surplus, there can be no fishing," he says.

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Translated by Alette Bjordal Gjellesvik

Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no

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