The poorer salmon population is clearly visible in Torneälven, the largest of the country’s salmon rivers.
Finland’s natural resource center Luke, which counts salmon in the Torneälven, sees that the number of migrating salmon has more than halved compared to last year.
– During the past twelve years, there have been between 40,000 and 100,000 salmon that have passed. Now we have only counted around 20,000 salmon, says Atso Romakkaniemi who is a special researcher at Luke.
Several reasons
Even though the numbers of fry that migrated out to sea were relatively large, fewer salmon swim back to reproduce in the rivers of Norrland. Previous years’ illnesses on salmon, poorer food for the fry in the sea and warmer water are suspected to be causes.
– It is likely that we will gradually see fewer and fewer fish swimming up to spawn due to climate change, says researcher Atso Romakkaniemi.
Control of river fishing
Although the salmon quotas for commercial fishing in the sea have decreased, the salmon population in the rivers is not increasing. A reduction in the salmon catches that may be taken up in the rivers and greater coordination of salmon fishing is called for from the Land and Water Authority.
– Anglers must take greater responsibility and, as it were, adhere to the precautionary principle. We need to know everyone who uses this resource, what is caught annually, says angler Lars Munk.