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SCIENCETuesday 15 March 2016
In Atlantic salmon fight, Greenland proves a sticking point
PATRICK WHITTLE In this undated file photo wild Atlantic salmon swim at a fish hatchery in Orland, Maine. tional summit last year — a
Associated Press Associated Press reduction in catch from
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — the previous 57 tons, but
Preventing the long-imper- them to realize the fish they and the Pacific Chinook populations and stave off nowhere near as dramatic
iled Atlantic salmon from are fishing for originate in salmon are the largest extinction. a rollback as U.S. officials
disappearing from Ameri- Canada, in U.S. waters, in salmon species. NOAA’s report states that wanted. Some U.S. conser-
can waters will require the Europe, and these popula- Atlantic are the most com- a critical negotiating point vationists have said the only
U.S. to put pressure on Inuit tions are in decline.” monly farmed species of will be the annual meeting sustainable salmon quota
fishermen in Greenland to The National Oceanic and salmon, and demand has of the North Atlantic Salm- for Greenland is zero.
stop harvesting a fish that Atmospheric Administra- grown exponentially since on Conservation Organiza- That doesn’t sit well in
has fed them for hundreds tion has said the final rem- the 1990s. Farms produced tion, scheduled for June in Greenland, where officials
of years, federal officials nants of the wild Atlantic more than 2 million tons of Germany. National lead- said they are happy to
say. salmon population in U.S. the salmon, prized for its ers and non-governmental continue working with the
The salmon were once waters live in a handful of high protein content and organizations will attend U.S., but they disagree that
found from Long Island rivers and streams in central omega-3 fatty acids, for the meeting. NOAA’s plan a halt to Inuit fishing would
Sound to Canada, but their and eastern Maine. A 2014 the first time in 2012. states that the U.S. and oth- save the fish. Katrine Kær-
population has cratered in count found less than 300 The wild fish leave Maine er nations need to negoti- gaard, a spokeswoman for
the face of river damming, salmon in the Penobscot rivers in the spring, and ate with Greenland’s gov- the country’s ministry of fish-
warming ocean waters, River, which has the largest most eventually end up ernment to establish mea- eries, said Greenland has
competition for food with wild Atlantic salmon popu- off Greenland, an au- sures to minimize the coun- “continuously reduced” its
non-native fish and, officials lation in the country. tonomous country that is try’s impact on salmon of salmon fishery over the past
say, continued Greenland- Federal authorities listed part of the Danish Realm, U.S. origin. It also states that two decades, and the fish
ic fishing. the Gulf of Maine’s Atlan- along with Denmark and more Maine dams need to population’s status has not
Now, federal officials have tic salmon population as the Faroe Islands. NOAA be removed so salmon can improved.
outlined an ambitious plan endangered in 2000. They issued a report in February spawn in rivers, and that Greenland’s salmon fish-
to try to save the Atlantic were once found in almost that identified the salmon watershed areas need to ery is conducted close to
salmon that they say will every river north of the Hud- as one of a handful of spe- be restored so young salm- shore and is mostly based
require removing dams, son, but since the 18th cen- cies listed under the En- on can thrive. out of small dinghies with
creating fish passages and tury they have declined dangered Species Act that Greenland decided on a nets, Kærgaard said. The
fostering cooperation from to just 11 rivers, NOAA has need “immediate, target- 45-ton quota for 2015, 2016 fishing is solely for local use,
Inuit fishermen some 2,000 said. The Atlantic salmon ed efforts” to stabilize their and 2017 during an interna- and the salmon can’t be
miles away from Maine, exported. Taking salmon
where most of America’s fishing away would devas-
last wild Atlantic salmon tate the Inuit population,
spawn. which makes up 90 percent
“We’ve tried everything of Greenland, Kærgaard
possible to negotiate with said. “Surviving off the re-
Greenland to find alterna- sources that nature can of-
tives to find out how they fer has been the way that
can lessen impacts on U.S. the tough Inuit of Green-
fish,” said Dan Kircheis, a land has survived for thou-
fisheries biologist with the sands of years, and it is still
National Marine Fisher- the way that a large part of
ies Service. “This is part of the people survive today —
their culture, this is part of and here the salmon plays
who they are, this is some- a vital part of the history
thing they’ve always done. and culture,” Kærgaard
We are trying to work with said.q
