Locals worried as tourists catch one ton of fish per day

FishingFishing.Photo: pixabay.com

The locals at Sørøya in Finnmark reacted to what they think is overfishing encouraged by the tourist industry.

‘’I have seen people several times who have stood and cut hundreds of kilos of fillet. It is completely incredible.You have the wrong type of tourists when they catch one ton of fish a day’’ said a local inhabitant, Ole-Gunnar Rasmussen to NRK news.

In his home municipality of Hasvik, which has just over 1,000 inhabitants, there are nine registered tourist fishing companies. To these, tourists pay thousands of kroner for board, lodging, and fishing rights in Norway.

The tourists are only allowed to bring 20 kilos of fish when they leave the country. But bragging images on social media and other observations have left the citizens believing that far more are being fished in the sea.

‘’There is no other place in the world you can do this. You can’t go to the Czech Republic and hunt as much reindeer as you like’’ said Rasmussen.

An employee at Camp Halibut International last week published a Facebook post in which he wrote that they had received at least one ton of cod in just a few hours.

Daily manager, Daniel Eriksson, told NRK that if they get too much fish, they are released again and that they try not to harm the fish they do not retain. He added that their guests report the fish they catch and that the figures are sent to the Directorate of Fisheries.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today