The volume of the fish caught by tourists and sport fishermen in Norway, writes Hans Morten Sundness, may now be as much as 60,000 tonnes (t) a year and this may match the commercial cod fish catch by Norwegian fishermen in the traditional Lofoten season, according to professor Abraham Hallenstvedt at the Norges Fiskerihøgskole. His research suggests that the tourist share of the 60,000t is 12-15,000t. The Lofoten fishery is based on the migratory Norwegian-Arctic cod (skrei). The Norwegian authorities and commercial vessels are trying hard to avoid catches of the threatened coastal cod and that is what seems to be ending up on the hooks of the sport fishermen.
Professor Hallenstvedt told the Norwegian newspaper Fiskaren that leisure and tourism fishing from now on ought to be monitored by the government. The Norwegian Fishermen's Union also wants tourists coming to fish to be controlled at the border. The north-Norwegian organisation Troms Fiskarfylking wants to stop all fish, caught by tourists, at the border. But another report claims that a fish caught by a foreign tourist is of more value to the coastal community than a fish caught by a Norwegian fisherman.
