This past summer’s wild salmon fishing season turned out to be as poor as predicted, with the overall catch as measured in tons down by 45 percent from last year. Some blame the unusually warm weather, others poor feeding conditions at sea and problems stemming from fish farming along the coast.
“It’s been terrible weather this summer,” salmon fisherman Torstein Byklum, age 64, told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) as the season wound down in southern Norway over the weekend. He knows that the vast majority of Norwegians would disagree with him, given the many weeks of sunny, warm weather compared to last year’s chilly and near constant rain. But salmon fishing enthusiasts prefer the latter to bring the fish out.
The wild salmon catch has been down all over Norway, reported DN, from the east and southeast, to the West Coast, Trøndelag, Nordland, Troms and Finnmark. Researchers are working on the statistics coming in, and will be making recommendations for improving next year’s catch.
Bad fishing also means bad business at the local lodges that cater to wealthy salmon fishing fans from around the world. Vegard Heggem, a former professional football player who owns Aunan Lodge in Orkla, said his business was down by half this season.
newsinenglish.no staff
