Increase in river catch of salmon

A RIVER IN JØLSTERA RIVER IN JØLSTER SOGN AND FJORDANE Photo: Kyrre Lien / SCANPIX

In 2015, 195 000 salmon, sea trout and migratory char were caught in Norwegian rivers, which is 21 per cent more than in 2014. Of these, 82 per cent were slaughtered and 18 per cent were caught and released.

The slaughtered catch amounted to 405 tonnes, consisting of 350 tonnes of salmon and 55 tonnes of sea trout and migratory char. Compared with 2014, the increase was 26 per cent for salmon and 23 per cent for the two other species.

 

The average weight of salmon caught, but not released, was 3.3 kg in 2015, compared with 3.2 kg in 2014. Fifty-nine per cent of the salmon fish weighed less than 3 kg, 32 per cent were between 3 and 7 kg and 9 per cent were over 7 kg.

Tana still on top

Tana and its tributaries was the most important river system in 2015 in terms of fish caught, with a total catch of 38.2 tonnes. This is 9.5 tonnes less than in 2014. Next in line were Namsenvassdraget and Gaulavassdraget. The ranking of the rivers is based on the total catch, including catch and release.

More catch and release

In 2015, 25 400 salmon and 9 500 sea trout and migratory char were caught and released into the river again. In this respect, Orkla and Gaula were the most important rivers, both with catch and release of 2 800 fish.

Nevertheless, Finnmark was the county where most fish were released into the rivers again; in total 6 500 salmon and 1 500 sea trout and migratory char. Next in line were Sør-Trøndelag and Sogn og Fjordane.

The average weight for catch and release salmon was 4.1 kg, and for sea trout and migratory char 0.9 kg.

 

Source: SSB / Norway Today