Atlantic Salmon

At present fishing for salmon in Norwegian home water is carried out with drift nets, bag nets, bend nets, lift nets and stake nets in the sea, and mainly by rods in the rivers. Catch statistics have been collected since 1876, but reliability of the statistics is questionable. The rates of exploitation on many Norwegian salmon stocks are very high, and data are presented and discussed for River Laerdal, River Eira and River Imsa stocks. As a result of this heavy exploitation with nets, the frequency of net-marked salmon entering rivers is high especially for griIse, although most net-marked salmon are only slightly damaged. It is suggested that mortality of salmon that are net-damaged hear or in brackish water is relatively small compared with salmon that escape from nets on the high seas. Some possible effects of selective fishing are also discussed. 159 Status of Exploitation of Atlantic Salmon in Norway REFERENCES Anon. (l985a) Salmon and sea trout fisheries 1984. Central Bureau of Statistics of Norway, Oslo - Kongsvinger, 96 pp. (in Norwegian with English summary) Anon. (I985b) Report of meeting of working group on North Atlantic salmon. ICES C. M. 1985/ Assess, 11, 67 pp. Angelsen, K. K. and Holm, M. (I978) Rapport om garnforslllk med laks, Fisk og Fiskestell, . ; 15-17. (in Norwegian) Berg, M. , Abrahamsen, B. and Berg, O. K. (I986) Spawning of injured compared to uninjured female Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, l.