NORNI: Agonie du Saumon Sauvage face on aquaculture

Water to the waist. However, Christer Kristoffersen whips the air in search of wild salmon Then place your line on the flood river. Therefore, At the end? In addition, Nothing … However, The emblematic animal of Norway has dramatically rare in the Scandinavian country, victim of climate change and aquaculture.

“When I was a kid. Similarly, in the early 80s, the norni: agonie du saumon sauvage river overflowed with fish at a point that we cannot imagine. Nevertheless, It was filled with sea trout and salmon. Moreover, You could catch ten. Meanwhile, fifteen in an evening, ”explains this sports fishing enthusiast, planted in the Stjørdal river (center) swollen by the rains.

Despite his decades of experience, the fifties have been held out for ten days. Furthermore, Because salmon is rare. Moreover, so much so that Norway has placed it in 2021 on its red list of almost threatened species.

An ever greater proportion of these fish that migrate between fresh water. salt water do not come back to spawn at their place of birth, upstream of rivers. They disappear at sea for still mysterious reasons but that scientists think linked to climate change.

Only 323. 000 wild salmon Raised the Norwegian rivers in 2024, less than a third compared to the 1980s, according to the Scientific Committee for the Management of Salmon, an independent body set up by the authorities.

Enough to worry anyone who indulges. live from sports fishing, a practice entering Norwegian DNA from the 19th century^e century.

With wild salmon fishing

“Salmon fishing is very important for Norway. both for local communities in river valleys and for the economy. And it attracts many tourists. ”underlines Aksel Hembre, vice-president of Norske Lakselver, an association bringing together the operators of the salmon rivers.

But faced with the collapse of the Montaison (the number of fish that go up the rivers). the authorities suspended it in 33 rivers last year and accompanied it this year of norni: agonie du saumon sauvage restrictions (closure of certain rivers, shortened seasons for others, quotas).

A blow for tourism professionals. the 60,000 to 80,000 sports fishermen who engage in their passion in rivers where the population of Salmonids is considered to be abundant.

If perceptible climate change in rivers (warming of water, precipitation and drought …) and at sea (modification of the ecosystem and food sources …) is difficult to stop, another manager is pointed out: aquaculture.

Aquaculture success

Since the 1970s. Norway has produced breeding salmona lucrative industry which brought back 10 billion euros in 2024 – second export product behind hydrocarbons – and which creates welcome jobs on the coast.

Its fjords are traveled by hundreds of aquaculture farms. Each of their six to twelve norni: agonie du saumon sauvage floating cages can contain up to 200,000 fish.

Not only is breeding salmon. according to some estimates, a thousand times more numerous than wild salmon, but it also helps to lighten its ranks.

The main threats it hovers are linked to sea lice – parasites that swarm in farms -. escapes, which can generate unwanted genetic crosses, and diseases, according to the Scientific Committee for Salmon Management.

When youth juvenile salmon (the “smolts”) migrate to the sea. pass near the farms, “if they catch a lot of these parasites, they gnaw at their skin, can suck their blood, and eventually kill them,” said the president of the committee, Torbjørn Forsth.

“The crossing between wild salmon. breeding salmon is problematic, because the breeding salmon is selected and adapted to the environment of an aquaculture farm, which is obviously very different from the natural environment,” adds the researcher. Some of the characteristics of these fish (Editor’s note: as its rapid growth) are therefore very harmful for wild salmon. ”

To eradicate these problems. many voices rise so that the cages, now open to their environment, give way to closed, hermetic but more expensive systems.

“We demand that there are no emissions, no fish leaks, and no impact of lice on wild salmon. This is essential if we want to save it, ”underlines Aksel Hembre.

If she says she is concerned about wild salmon, the aquaculture industry takes time.

“It does not progress very quickly because it is quite complex. Imagine building a closed system and installing it at sea, compared to an open system. There is a lot to take into account. ”says Øyvind André Haram, spokesperson for Norwegian Seafood Association, which brings together heavy goods vehicles.

“Can something break?” Can some elements norni: agonie du saumon sauvage be affected by marine currents or those of the fjords? It is therefore much more time to be 100% sure than this system is safe, ”he says.

The sector also requires more studies to explain the decline in stocks.

Norni: agonie du saumon sauvage

Regulate aquaculture

For its part. the Parliament agreed in June on a text providing for a regulation of farms within two to four years and which should push the sector to switch to closed cages.

“They are moving on a mouse. while wild salmon needs a revolution,” regrets Ann-Britt Bogen, who manages a cottage on the banks of the Gaula river.

“I am afraid of being of the latest generation that will fish wild. salmon in Norway if the government norni: agonie du saumon sauvage does not take responsibility.”

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