The problem is that Norwegian fishermen with nets catch salmon that are migrating along the coast and the fjords of Finnmark towards Russian or Norwegian, Finnish rivers for breeding.
In a letter dated 31 January, Deputy Head of Department for International Cooperation in Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries V. Chiklinenkov writes: “The Russian Federation is deeply disappointed by the proposals of the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management to not only maintain the regulations that were in place for the salmon sea fisheries in coastal waters of Northern Norway in 2011, but to weaken the restrictions for this fishery be increasing its duration in the beginning of June by one more day per week.”
The dispute between Norway and Russia on coastal net fisheries catching salmon in Finnmark has been going on for nearly two decades. The North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF) points to a scientific study stating that between 60 and 70 percent of the biggest salmon catches by Norwegian nets belong to Russia and Finland.
Click here to read the full story from the Barents Observer >
