European Anglers Alliance, eaa rue du Luxembourg 47

European Anglers Alliance, EAA

Rue du Luxembourg 47

1050 Brussels

Belgium
Tel: 0032 (0)2 286 5956 ● email@eaa-europe.eu ● www.eaa-europe.eu



Press Release Brussels, September 5 2011 Brussels, August 31 2011,

European Anglers Alliance demands:
“No resumption of High Seas Fisheries for Atlantic Salmon !”
The European Anglers Alliance (EAA) has joined international salmon conservation organisations like the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) and North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF) in their deep felt concern that the high seas fisheries for Atlantic salmon near Greenland and the Faroe Islands might be reopened following demands and protests by Greenland fishermen at the recent annual conference of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO).
The EAA met in London for the General Assembly on August 27 and drew up a statement that urges NASCO to refocus on its original goal: the conservation of the Atlantic salmon. A copy of this statement will be sent to the European Commission and governments of European countries where Atlantic salmon are indigenous, along with a call for a complete cessation of mixed-stock fisheries.

In the feeding areas of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, salmon from many countries and rivers converge to feed on the abundant small fish and shrimp stocks there. In the 1960s and 70s, the commercial fisheries for salmon in these areas had threatened the existence of the Atlantic salmon as a species. (The Greenland fishery reached a peak in 1971 with 2,500 tonnes; the Faroe Islands fishery exceeded 1,100 tonnes in many years).

In the 1980s, to save the Atlantic salmon, the fishermen from Greenland and the Faroe Islands had to limit their commercial fisheries because of quotas agreed with NASCO and finally stopped their commercial fisheries for salmon in exchange for financial compensation by the NASF and/or ASF in the 1990s.

Over the past few years the intergovernmental organisation NASCO (members a.o.: Russian Federation, USA, Canada, Norway, Denmark and the EU plus a number of NGOs) has come under intensive pressure from the commercial fishermen to re-open a salmon fishery in the Greenland and Faroe area. This pressure was the result of the fact that in the past few years some European countries have admitted other ‘mixed stock’ fisheries in their home waters or along their coasts, where salmon from many rivers in other countries are intercepted. These mixed stock fisheries are the result of bad judgement by governments or simply because scientific facts were ignored. The fishermen from Greenland and the Faroe Islands appreciate the yearly financial compensation they receive from NASF and/or ASF, but they feel left behind in comparison with commercial fishermen in countries like Norway, Scotland and England who are allowed to fish for salmon in the sea again.

In the letter to NASCO, the EAA also draws attention to the growing problems for salmon caused by the proliferation of hydro power in Europe, especially small scale hydro power, and the impact caused by salmon farming on an industrial scale. Hydro power stations make the migration of salmon more difficult (or sometimes even impossible) and can kill many young salmon (smolts) on their migration to the sea. Salmon farms pose enormous problems for the salmon too, by releasing chemicals and masses of parasites (sea lice) that attach themselves on passing wild salmon smolts, so endangering their survival. Accidental escapes of millions of cultured salmon from the pens endanger the genetic integrity of local strains of salmon and the species as a whole.