Under threat? Wild salmon and reindeer considered as new candidates for Norway’s Red List of Species

The situation for wild salmon and wild reindeer could be classified as near threatened. Experts are considering changing their status on the new Red List for 2021, which will be published in the autumn. 

The Species Data Bank has opened up for access to the preliminary assessments for the Norwegian Red List of Species. 

The list is revised every six years. In the material presented, experts suggest that the status of wild salmon and wild reindeer should be upgraded to “near threatened.”

Decline in population

There has been a decline in the population of wild reindeer. The entire wild reindeer population in Nordfjella has been culled due to the deadly disease scrapie. 

The animals will also be culled in the Hardangervidda to limit infection. At the same time, the animals’ habitats are under pressure when natural habitats and feeding areas are over-grazed and divided due to development.

For wild salmon, there is also a decline, the report shows. Farmed salmon is the biggest threat.

“Salmon lice and escaped farmed salmon are considered unstable stock threats,” experts write. For other stock, the threat it is more stable. 

Wild salmon spawn in around 450 rivers along the coast of the country. Between 1983 and 2019, the number of adult salmon returning from the sea has halved.

91 experts

About 23,000 species are up for preliminary assessment. The final conclusion comes in November and will replace the current list, which is from 2015.

“This means that anyone who wants to can see the preliminary results. The Species Databank does this so that everyone who may have supplementary information about the species will have the opportunity to contribute,” Snorre Henriksen, the project manager for the Red List for species in the Species Databank, said.

Several committees with a total of 91 experts are involved in the work of assessing whether species should be red-listed. 

Inputs are accepted until May 2.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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