Governance of the Baltic Salmon Fishery - Fishers views

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Salmon fisheries governance is a highly controversial issue in many countries. The use of salmon resource has often caused political and economic conflicts between commercial and recreational sectors (Pinkerton 1994, Appelblad 2001). In Finland, as elsewhere, the state-led construction of hydroelectric power plants with the associated damming of rivers and other environmental changes have destroyed or weakened wild salmon (Salmo salar L.) stocks. Presently only 10 % of the stocks is wild salmon (Romakkaniemi et al. 2003). Owing to migratory behavior of salmon it can be caught at different times of the season by different fishers in the open sea, along the coastline and in the rivers (Fig. 1). Salmon born or stocked in the rivers of northern parts of the Baltic Sea migrate to the southern parts, and consequently all countries around the Baltic Sea have exploited the stocks. Denmark, Finland and Sweden harvested the largest catches.