The authorities crack down on illegal salmon fishing
The authorities have decided to get tough on illegal salmon fishing, a problem by far the largest in northern Norway.
‘We want an end to illegal fishing for salmon. The extent of this is far too high,’ the chief of the Coastal Section of the Norwegian National Conservation Authority (SNO), Arnstein Johnsen, told NRK news.
So far this year, 197 nets have been seized in the north, against 199 at the same time last year. The number of criminal cases has doubled, with twelve so far this year. Also in Nord-Trøndelag, large numbers of illegal nets have been discovered, most recently during Pentecost weekend (pinsehelga), when the Norwegian Conservation Authority found eleven salmon nets on one trip along the Namdal coast.
‘Now we have taken about twice as many on one outing than we had during the whole of last year,’ said Anders Voss Thingnes at the Norwegian National Inspectorate.
By comparison, there are only four cases in the rest of the country.
The state’s Nature Conservation authority is part of the Directorate for the Environment. Together with the police, the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate, and the Coast Guard, they check for fish poaching. Members of the public who have knowledge of salmon poaching are asked to notify Ulovligegarn.no.
‘We see that there is coarser, larger and longer equipment used. In some cases, it’s difficult to believe that the fishing is for sole use’, said Arnstein Johnsen.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
