Saving Seafood

Advancing International Atlantic Salmon Conservation by Engaging Indigenous Peoples

November 1, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Atlantic salmon hold, and have held for thousands of years, cultural and subsistence value to many Indigenous Peoples across the North Atlantic for thousands of years. Indigenous Peoples maintain tremendous knowledge passed down through generations, and this body of knowledge continues to evolve and grow. NOAA Fisheries collaborates with indigenous communities to enhance knowledge and improve Atlantic salmon restoration efforts, including our work with Wabanaki Nations on Atlantic salmon restoration. However, engagement in international efforts has been limited—until now.

International Cooperation to Conserve Salmon

The Atlantic salmon that are born and spawn in Maine rivers, traverse long distances— spanning borders and cultures—across the North Atlantic to the west coast of Greenland. There, they share feeding grounds with salmon from Canadian and southern European rivers. We need to work collectively to share knowledge that will support management decisions to support Atlantic salmon, their native habitats, and the many cultures that depend on them.

Established in 1984, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) is a regional fisheries management organization composed of:

  • Canada
  • Denmark (in respect to the Faroe Islands and Greenland)
  • European Union
  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Russian Federation
  • United Kingdom
  • United States

These countries have come together to conserve, restore, and sustainably manage Atlantic salmon through international cooperation. In 2022, the participating countries recognized the importance of including Indigenous Knowledge and perspective in international efforts. They agreed to prioritize enhancing the participation of Indigenous Peoples in NASCO. At their 2023 annual meeting, they invited Indigenous Peoples throughout the North Atlantic to share their perspectives and roles in Atlantic salmon conservation. NASCO repeatedly heard about the need to include—and the benefits from including—Indigenous voices and perspectives and Indigenous Knowledge, into their decision-making processes. Incorporating these voices and knowledge systems would lead to better informed conservation decisions.

The United States was excited to learn more about how to best enhance Indigenous engagement in NASCO. We invited discussion on this topic with federally recognized tribes in New England. We heard perspectives from representatives of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Penobscot Nation, and the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik. We then advocated for independent participation in NASCO by all interested indigenous communities. NASCO rules now allow representatives from all tribes to participate in meetings, committees, and working groups.

“The Penobscot Nation is very excited to engage in discussions at this level with NASCO members to take care of our relative, the Atlantic salmon, throughout their entire range. There is a depth of indigenous knowledge that has been absent from management discussions on the U.S. side since the inception of NASCO. Although some of our partners have done well at trying to communicate for us, there is no replacement for direct discussions with each of the Wabanaki nations,” commented Chuck Loring, Director of Penobscot Nation’s Department of Natural Resources.Image

Moving Forward Together

This unprecedented decision makes NASCO the first regional fisheries management organization in the world to formally recognize and incorporate Indigenous Peoples into their work. “NOAA Fisheries is committed to honoring the unique relationship we have with Tribal Nations,” said Shannon Dionne, head of the U.S. delegation to NASCO and NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region. “The rules that NASCO adopted in June are a significant step forward towards inclusivity and representation and strengthen our ability to conserve and responsibly manage Atlantic salmon. We look forward to strengthening our relationships with Indigenous Peoples in this forum as we work together on these important issues.”

North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization Meeting Concludes: West Greenland Measures Disappointing

June 4, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

On Friday, June 4, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) concluded its 38th Annual Meeting (held virtually). NASCO is an intergovernmental organization formed to promote the conservation, restoration, enhancement, and rational management of wild Atlantic salmon stocks in the North Atlantic Ocean. NASCO’s members are Canada, Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland) (DFG), the European Union, Norway, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Representatives from a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also attended the meeting.

Participants discussed a number of matters critical to Atlantic salmon conservation and management, including a new regulatory measure for the mixed stock fishery that occurs off West Greenland. This fishery, which operates against the scientific advice, takes critically endangered U.S. origin salmon. As such, our highest priority during the meeting was to agree to a regulatory measure that reduced the catch in the fishery to the lowest possible level and ensured effective management and control.

While a new interim regulatory measure was adopted for the fishery off West Greenland, the United States is deeply concerned about many of its key provisions. In order to avoid allowing the fishery to operate outside of any international constraints, we stopped short of blocking consensus on this one-year measure. However, we expressed our extreme displeasure with several provisions including a 27 ton Total Allowable Catch (TAC), the failure to implement the required 10 ton reduction in the 2021 TAC to account for overharvest in 2020, and the lack of an overharvest payback provision applicable to any future overharvests. The European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom largely shared the U.S. concerns about the new regulatory measure. All indicated that the catch level was too high, especially without a requirement to ensure any overharvest of the TAC would be addressed. DFG, however, was not willing to change its position on the size of total TAC or the inclusion of the overharvest payback provision.

The new measure will maintain the prohibition on factory landings and exports of Atlantic salmon from Greenland, and require DFG to continue to implement previously agreed monitoring, control, and reporting measures. The new regulatory measure will apply to the fishery off West Greenland in 2021 only, and Parties agreed that they would meet before the 2022 NASCO annual meeting to continue discussions on the development of a longer-term measure. The United States looks forward to these discussions and to the adoption of a stronger measure at the 2022 NASCO annual meeting.

Visit our web page to read the Closing Statement from the U.S. Head of Delegation to NASCO, Kim Damon-Randall, Deputy Regional Administrator for the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office.

Read the full release here

International Year of the Salmon Will Open at the Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo 2018

August 27, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — It’s no secret that salmon is an important market and they’re going to get the spotlight at the Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo 2018 where an opening ceremony will be held for the International Year of Salmon. A global community of scientists and ecologists has established the International Year of Salmon. The year will include a series of events aimed at addressing, reducing, and resolving the various problems of maintaining global salmon stock.

According to a TASS press release Deputy Minister of Agriculture and head of the Federal Agency for Fishery Ilya Shestakov, NASCO President Jóannes Hansen, NPAFC President Suam Kim, NPAFC Executive Director Vladimir Radchenko, Director of the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) Kirill Kolochin and Director of WWF Russia Igor Chestin will attend the International Year of the Salmon opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony for the International Year of the Salmon will take place in St. Petersburg on the third day of the second annual Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo which is being held from the 13 through the 15 of September at the Expo Forum Convention and Exhibition Complex. The Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo is being organized by the Federal Agency for Fishery and the operator is the Roscongress Foundation.

The TASS press release also highlighted that the International Year of Salmon has been a long time coming stating: Specialists first spoke of the need for this project over ten years ago. Co-operation between countries will create an opportunity to clarify many aspects of the ecology of salmon, the study of which requires considerable resources considering the salmon’s extensive natural habitat and their complex life cycle.

Within the scope of International Year of the Salmon, from autumn 2018 to the end of 2019, it is planned to implement a complex of measures base on proposals made by the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) and the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO).

The program includes scientific expeditions and other events designed, among other things, to popularize research and ecological education, to develop exchange of information about the state of popularization and the industry. An important component of the project remains the fight against the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and to control the fish catch.

According to the NPAFC, the global catch of Pacific salmon, has no, since the drop in the 1950s–1970s to 400 thousand tonnes, risen to almost one million tonnes. ICES statistics indicate a drop in the global catch of anadromous Atlantic salmon from 12 thousand tonnes in the 1970s to 1.2 thousand tonnes in 2017. This is connected with a cut in the numbers of salmon and restrictions on the industry. A large part of the Atlantic salmon catch in 2017 was taken from rivers (64%), though a significant number of fish are still caught in the sea on migration routes in the countries of the South East Atlantic. The biggest sea catch in 2017 was registered by Norway – 290 thousand tonnes, including 138 thousand tonnes declared in the province of Finnmark, where salmon of Russian origin are caught.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished with permission.

 

Heightened protection for at risk North Atlantic salmon stocks

June 29, 2018 — New regulatory measures for salmon fisheries around the Faroe Islands and off west Greenland have been adopted by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO).

While the measure applying to the Faroes is a rollover of the previous zero-catches measures, the European Commission (EC) said that the agreement on a new regulatory measure for western Greenland was “particularly significant.” This is because the latter addresses several shortcomings in terms of control and monitoring of the catches and sets an annual total allowable catch (TAC) of 30 metric tons (MT) for the period 2018-2020.

Under the previous regulatory measure in place since 2015, no agreement could be reached on the TAC, and Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland) had autonomously declared an annual quota of 45 MT.

The EC said that the new agreement illustrated a renewed willingness of all parties to improve cooperation toward the conservation of these salmon stocks and represented an important step to protect the especially endangered southern populations.

These new protection measures were agreed at NASCO’s 35th annual meeting, held in Portland, Maine, U.S.A.

Read the full story at Seafood Source