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How Greenland is helping wild salmon
9th June 2003
Sea-River News
For many years Greenland's fishermen have caught Atlantic salmon in the Greenland Sea. Today, Greenland's commercial fishermen have taken an historic stand to help restore threatened stocks of wild Atlantic salmon in Europe and North America.
They have agreed to join their Government and salmon conservation organizations on both sides of the Atlantic in protecting the salmon while the fish are migrating through northern waters. The shoals of salmon will now have a much better chance of returning to their home rivers in Britain, Ireland, continental Europe and North America.
Weeks of negotiations ended in a five-year agreement signed
by Leif Fontaine, Chairman of KNAPK (the commercial
fishermen's organization in Greenland) and Orri Vigfusson,
international Chairman of the North Atlantic Salmon
Fund (NASF). The agreement suspends all commercial
salmon fishing and allows only an annual subsistence harvest
that will be strictly limited.
In return for volunteering to forego their rights to harvest salmon the fishermen will find alternative work in a number of new development projects to be introduced along the Greenland coast. NASF and KNAPK have already implemented a number of successful sustainable fishing programs for lumpfish and snow crab. Under this new agreement KNAPK, NASF and the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), with financial support from the Department of Interior and the Department of State in the U.S., will identify and invest in alternative fisheries development programs for Greenland fishermen.
The Greenland Home Rule Government has already announced its enthusiastic endorsement of the salmon agreement.
This agreement, in which commercial salmon fishermen are leading the way towards the restoration of wild salmon stocks, demonstrates the dramatic change that has taken place in the attitudes of professional netsmen. They have seen the precipitous decline in wild salmon populations and are offering to help restore the species to abundance. Fewer than 200 wild Atlantic salmon remain in the U.S. where they are protected under the Endangered Species Act, while in Canada and Europe scientists warn that many stocks are well below safe biological levels.
"Most people have no idea of the depth of the crisis facing wild Atlantic salmon because the situation has been masked by the huge quantities of artificially-reared salmon that reach fishmonger’s slabs from fish farms", said Orri Vigfusson. "So this splendid agreement may have come just in time, but make no mistake, this Agreement has check points. If the commercial fishing of mixed stocks of salmon that is still going on in Ireland, Scotland, and Norway does not soon stop the Greenlanders could go back to fishing at short notice. Why should they show respect for a threatened species while the governments of other countries ignore the salmon's plight".
"Most governments are now working with us. Washington, Ottawa, Whitehall, Belfast, Paris, Madrid, and Bonn have already decided that interceptory mixed stock salmon fishing has to stop before real restoration programs can begin. The Fisheries Ministers in Dublin and in Edinburgh must also join this impressive conservation initiative. We do believe, however, that there are hopeful signs of a change of heart in both Scotland and the Irish Republic," concluded Mr. Vigfusson
"A conservation agreement with Greenland became very pressing after the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) agreed in June, against the advice of scientists, to allow Greenland fishermen a commercial harvest of 55 tonnes (20,000 salmon) in 2002," said Bill Taylor, ASF President. "This agreement means the suspension of the last commercial fishery targeted at North American wild Atlantic salmon", concluded Mr. Taylor, "and will do much to bolster salmon conservation and restoration efforts throughout the North Atlantic."
Keith Piercey
SCNL (Salmonid Council of Newfoundland and Labrador)
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