Norway’s remaining wild salmon are facing more threats, after an illness first discovered in the Orkla and Gaula rivers seems to be spreading to other rivers both north and south of the Trondheimsfjord. Researchers and locals alike are finding more salmon with skin infections, and more that are dead.
“This is a desperate situation,” Øyvind Solem of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) on Thursday. “The worst thing is that we can’t do anything to help (the ill fish).”
Several of the rivers have been closed in an effort to rebuild salmon stocks. The wild salmon has been under siege for years, and there’d been some optimism when the fishing season began in June. Now the skin disease is showing up in the Verdal, Mossa and Stjørdal rivers, also in the Driva and Usma rivers farther south in Møre og Romsdal.
Solem said it’s not unusual to see skin ailments on wild salmon at this time of year, but the extent of the illness and the amounts of dead fish being found is deeply troubling. Some rivers are unlikely to reopen next year.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
