Fishing in Tanafjord

Many people told me that a year studying wild salmon in Norway would not be complete without a trip to the north of Norway to see the productive salmon runs of the Tana and Alta fjords.  Although there is some limited commercial fishing for salmon with fixed nets all along the coast of Norway, the larger salmon runs in the far north have continued to support the longest fishing seasons in the country.  The area is also beloved by sportsfishermen for large and plentiful salmon.

When I was in Tromso in March I met several fisheries scholars, and one of them was able to put me in touch with with a native Sami salmon fisherman from the Tanafjord.  I called Jan Larsen and asked him whether I could come 'help' him fish for a week or so.  He was not a man of many words, but he indicated that I could come.  So on June 6th I flew from Bergen to Kirkenes, far to the north near the Russian and Finnish borders.  

The Tana River crosses the border into Finland, and management of this salmon run is thus more complex than in other Norwegian rivers.  In recent years the Norwegian government has begun to reduce fishing time in the Tana system due to declines in salmon runs.  Despite conservation concerns, these reductions are met with significant resistance from the predominantly Sea-Sami population, who see salmon fishing as one of the important pillars of their local culture and economy.

Jan Larsen and his brother, Trygve, have both fished for salmon since they were young, in addition to other fisheries.  Trygve also fishes 'rogn-kjeks', a species of lumpsucker fish that is plump with caviar.  Their home is in Vestre Tana, but from Monday at 6 pm to Friday at 6pm - the period when salmon fishing is allowed - they travel out to their cabin on the fjord near their fishing sites.  They use both krokgarns and kilenots to fish, two different kinds of set-nets.  A krokgarn is a gillnet that is set up in two hooks, with a 'leading net' diverting fish into the gillnet area.  A kilenot is a hanging fish-trap of sorts.  A fish that swims in to a kilenot through a series of openings will not be able to find its way out again.

The week before I came to Tanafjord Jan caught 14 Atlantic salmon.  He had higher hopes for the week I was there, thinking that we might be able to catch up to 100 fish.  However, we ended up with only 9 for the entire week.  For a while they blamed having a woman around for the poor catch, but then I reminded them that we caught 150,000 pounds of sockeye last year in Bristol Bay when I was on board, so they couldn't blame me ;)

Despite our poor catch that week, it was an amazing experience to get to know Jan and Trygve and the rest of their family, to grill wild Atlantic salmon over an open fire in the heart of one of Norway's wildest fjord-systems, and to see real salmon fishing in action in Norway.  I was also able to take side-trips up into the mountains into the territory on the Mountain-Sami people, and during my last two days in Finnmark I caught a ride up the cape to Mehamn, one of the northernmost communities in the world.  I stayed with one of Jan's relatives up there and watched the midnight sun set over the northern ocean.