Fishermen in northern Norway are waiting for decisions from the authorities on opening a fishery for invasive Pacific pink salmon.
‘The time has come to let us fish for humpback salmon,’ said Bugøynes fisherman Erling Haugen.
‘Fishermen are asking for clarification well in advance of next season. If fishing in the sea is to be opened before next season, they need time to get modified nets.’
As chairman of the fishermen’s association in Bugøynes, he participated in experimental fishing for pink salmon with a fish trap on the south side of Varanger in the summer of 2025. Now he believes it’s urgent to get clarity from the authorities if the fishermen are to have time to prepare for a commercial fishing for this invasive salmon specis during the coming summer.
Native to the Pacific, pink, or humpback, salmon were introduced originally to Russian rivers in the 1950s and again some decades later. Since then, this invasive species has spread along the Norwegian coast.
‘We risk being unprepared if fishing is opened. These are investments that require time,’ he said, speaking at a conference organised by the Norwegian Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry’s Research Funding Agency (FHF), bringing together fishermen, scientists and other stakeholders to discuss the issue.
‘In the trials, modified, small-meshed nets have shown good results. Beach seines, fish traps and purse seines from inshore fishing boats have been effective, while we have not had any mortality on fish that are not to be fished in Finnmark,’ said FHF’s Head of Research Frank Jakobsen, adding that the authorities have been clear that any fishing in the sea requires that the mortality rate of Atlantic salmon, sea charr and sea trout is as low as possible.
‘The goal is to find solutions that can both contribute to value creation in coastal communities and reduce the burden on spawning Atlantic salmon. I hope we don’t have another season where fishermen have to stand on the dock and watch the humpback salmon swim by, only to be destroyed in the rivers.’
Erling Haugan was responsible for leading the trials of fishing for humpback salmon off Bugøynes, with a fish trap. Together with researchers from the Institute of Marine Research, among others, he managed to ensure good catches of pink salmon without harming Atlantic salmon or other species.
‘This shows that the new nets are the solution if people are willing to let us fish for humpback salmon before it goes up into the rivers and rots’ he said, commenting that an indication is needed from the authorities on whether fishermen can start to rig their vessels for fishing this summer.
‘Pink salmon will return next summer in large numbers. The time has come for us to let ourselves fish for these salmon – we have shown that we can carry out fishing without harming other vulnerable species.’
