Helping the king reclaim his throne
Orri Vigfusson, man with a mission
T&S: MANY ANGLERS KNOW your name and have read something about the North Atlantic Salmon Fund. But how would you answer a person who said, "I have never heard of NASF. What exactly does it do?" OV: We are working to restore Atlantic salmon stocks to their previous abundance. We want to see the day when rivers are again so full of wild salmon that we will be able to harvest a sustainable surplus. We believe the only way to do that speedily and efficiently is by making the Atlantic Ocean and all the migration routes a sanctuary for salmon until stocks rebuild. T&S: That makes sense but it sounds like an enormous task. Why did you get involved? OV: Fishing fleets from several nations engaged in a huge free-for-all after the salmon's oceanic feeding grounds were discovered off Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes. By 1989 it was clear that the wild Atlantic salmon could be wiped out if the killing continued. I love salmon fishing and I was so concerned that, helped by a few good friends, I launched a conservation group that quickly became NASF. It has grown into a worldwide organisation with helpers, advisers and supporters of many nationalities and active branches in all the salmon- producing countries on both sides of the Atlantic. T&S: Other organisations are trying to conserve salmon. How is NASF different from them? OV: Our policy and working agenda is very different. Our objective is abundance. The great majority of fish that are killed die in nets. So the simplest and quickest way of getting more salmon to spawn is to remove or greatly reduce the netting. We prefer this to concentrating on the conservation limits that are usually the aim of inter-governmental agreements. With that type of agreement we have to be satisfied with the minimum number of fish needed to replace themselves. What most people want is the maximum number of fish to provide the greatest sport, sustainable harvests and very significant economic returns for rural areas. T&S: And how can you do that? OV: NASF has a very clear agenda. Our aim is to eliminate the most destructive commercial fisheries. These target mixed stocks of salmon from many rivers and several nations. I talk to the commercial fishermen themselves. Most of them are as anxious as anglers to see salmon stocks restored to their former levels. In political terms I explain our philosophy in numerous articles, speeches and presentations allover the world. We also produce policy papers for governments, political leaders, commercial fishing organisations, charitable bodies, conservationists in general and the general public. We sometimes take full-page advertisements in newspapers. The 'safe areas' indicate those parts of the world where NASF's commercial agreements have provided a haven salmon. But, as map shows, there is still much work to be done The "safe areas" indicate those parts of the world where NASF's commercial agreements have provided a haven for salmon. But, as this map shows, there is still much work to be done. T&S: What did you see as the main problem? OV: Mixed-stock commercial fishing. The netsmen have no way of knowing if they are killing salmon from rivers that can sustain the loss of the fish or from rivers in such decline that the removal of even small numbers of their remaining spawners can have devastating effects. All the scientists agree that it must be stopped because each river has a distinct stock of salmon. When shoals from many rivers meet on the feeding grounds or travel together as they return to their home rivers the fish are easy prey and can be caught in large numbers. A net could easily wipe out a river's last wild salmon. Even when a river's stock is still robust, the only place in which we should harvest them is by the rod fishery within the river itself or by nets in its estuary. Even there the numbers killed by nets or rods must be well within sustainable limits. T&S: But commercial fishermen fish to earn a living. How can you stop that? OV: Coming as I do from a fishing family I would never try to deny commercial fishermen the right to earn a living. The only fair way of getting them to volunteer to stop salmon fishing is to offer financial inducements and alternative employment, ideally by finding other, sustainable, fisheries. We form fair partnerships between governments, the netsmen and all kinds of private funding sources and make good the income the fishermen would otherwise lose. Then we work together to ensure that all the rescued salmon are given every chance to spawn. The northern lumpfish industries are examples of how other fisheries can be developed. If you buy lumpfish caviar or other lumpfish products in a supermarket they are likely to have come from Greenland or Iceland, where contented commercial fishermen are now enjoying a high standard of living. Last year the Greenlanders exported lumpfish products worth about 7m euros, which represents about 30 per cent of the world export trade. T&S: How can you afford to do all this? OV: We make continual fund-raising efforts in many countries. Wherever and whenever possible NASF promotes the better recreational fishing that is bound to result from more salmon reaching their rivers of origin. We encourage catch-and-release until stocks improve but catch-and-release must never be an end in itself. We stage fund-raising salmon dinners around the world and promote the cause of individual rivers in Scotland, Iceland, Ireland and Norway. Our most generous supporters often have to bear the financial brunt of our work but, fortunately, I am not alone in loving the salmon or wanting to see the king of fish reclaim its throne. I am deeply indebted to them all. T&S: There were many mixed-stock fisheries. How have you tackled them? OV: The salmon's feeding grounds were the first priority. That was the first phase of our plan. NASF commercial agreements were first made with the fishermen of Greenland and the Faroes. Then the Canadian Government made commercial agreements with their local fishermen. In the second phase NASF brought agreements in Iceland, Wales and south-west England. Last year five years of negotiation by NASF (UK) and its dedicated secretary, Andrew Whitehead, ended in agreement by most of the mixed-stock nets in the North Sea to stop salmon fishing. The total compensation was £3,340,950. We persuaded the UK Government to put up £1.25m. NASF (UK), aided by the Migratory Salmon Foundation (a charity of which I am chairman), is paying the remaining £2.09m with money contributed by our angler and conservationist supporters. Raising all that cash was far from easy, but the International Salmon Dinner in London last November tipped the balance. We are extremely grateful to the ladies who organised the dinner and the vast number of contributors who have helped find the funds. At the same time we hope shortly to bring off a similar success in the Northern Ireland Conservancy area. But one must remember that during the past five difficult years NASF also had to maintain its agreements with the high-seas fishermen. T&S: Surely there is nothing to stop the commercial fishermen just taking your money and then sneaking out to catch more salmon? OV: The great thing about commercial agreements is that they stick. We have not encountered any cheating anywhere because the commercial netsmen (and long-liners) are just as keen as we are to rebuild salmon stocks. We all want to see the return of salmon abundance. T&S: To have done all this is quite an achievement. Is your work at an end now? OV: Far from it. We have completed our Second Phase. We have now begun the Third Phase. NASF is currently soliciting support for schemes to buy out the in-fjord nets in Norway, many of which are substantial mixed-stock fisheries. A pilot scheme for the Trondheim fjord is being prepared. We are also tackling the problem of the Scottish mixed-stock salmon fisheries as a priority. It cannot be right that we are saving fish on the high seas and from the drift-nets off Northumbria and Yorkshire only to see them taken in coastal nets in Scotland. |