River fishing of salmon and sea trout, 1997:

Salmon catch declines

The 1997 river catch of salmon, sea trout and sea char totalled 302 tonnes, 36 tonnes less than in 1996.

Broken down, the catch consisted of 235 tonnes of salmon and 69 tonnes of sea trout and sea char. Compared to the year before, the catch represents a decline of 12 per cent for salmon and seven per cent for the other two fish species.

Forty-seven per cent of the salmon was under three kilos, 29 per cent between three and seven kilos and 24 per cent over seven kilos. Average weight in 1997 was 2.8 kilos, compared to 3.2 kilos in 1996.

The main river system for fishing is the River Tana and its tributaries, where 54 tonnes--up four tonnes from 1996--of the three species were taken. Next in line were the rivers Namsen, Altaelva, Numedalslågen and Gaula, which all saw smaller catches. The biggest decline was in Gaula, with 62 per cent and in Numedalslågen, with 35 per cent. Landed value of the river-caught fish has been calculated at NOK 13 million.

New Statistics

River fishing of salmon and sea trout, 1997.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Salmon and Sea Trout Fishing and Regional Statistics. For more information; contact: Åse Mobråten, tel. +47 62 88 52 91, e-mail: mon@ssb.no or Anne-Turi Fossheim, tel. +47 62 88 52 30, e-mail: atf@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 7, 1998