International Regulations and Guidelines on Transboundary Salmon Stocks: Case Study of the Tana River

• Author: Irene Vanja Dahl
• Position: Associate professor, Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea
• Pages: 39-70

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Citation: Irene Vanja Dahl. “International Regulations and Guidelines on Transboundary Salmon Stocks: Case Study of the

Tana River” Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 11, 2020, pp. 157–188. http://dx.doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v11.2432

Arctic Review on Law and Politics

Vol. 11, 2020, pp. 157–188

157

*Correspondence to: Irene Vanja Dahl, email: irene.dahl@uit.no

Peer-reviewed article

International Regulations and

Guidelines on Transboundary Salmon

Stocks: Case Study of the Tana River

Irene Vanja Dahl

UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Abstract

The year 2019 was “the international year of the salmon” (IYS). The overarching aim was

“to inform and stimulate outreach and research that aspires to establish the conditions necessary

to ensure the resilience of salmon and people throughout the Northern Hemisphere;” further,

to bring people together, share and develop knowledge, raise awareness and take action. This

article is intended as a contribution to this goal. The article discusses how international law: the

Law of the Sea Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention for the

Conservation of Salmon in the North Atlantic Ocean relate to conservation and management of

wild salmon. The article has a special focus on bilateral cooperation on salmon stocks in boundary/

transboundary rivers, and using as a case study the Tana r iver in Norway and Finland.

Keywords: anadromous stocks, Atlantic salmon, Law of the Sea Convention, North

Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, bilateral cooperation, border river, Tana

River, ILO-convention 169, indigenous people

Responsible Editor: Øyvind Ravna, Faculty of Law, UiT The Arctic University of

Norway

Received: June 2020; Accepted: October 2020; Published: December 2020

1 Introduction

The year 2019 was “the international year of the salmon” (IYS), initiated by the

North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) and the North

Pacic Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC). According to the home page of

Irene Vanja Dahl

158

IYS, the overarching aim was “to inform and stimulate outreach and research that

aspires to establish the conditions necessary to ensure the resilience of salmon and

people throughout the Northern Hemisphere;” further, to bring people together,

share and develop knowledge, raise awareness and take action.1 This article is

intended as a contribution to this goal from an international law perspective, draw-

ing on the example of bilateral cooperation on the Tana River in northern Norway

and Finland.

Since the 1970s there has been a marked reduction in the abundance of salmon,

prior to reductions in other sheries.2 Atlantic salmon stocks in Norway are half

what they were in the 1980s.3 However, in northern Norway, stocks have been quite

stable for the past 30 years, with one signicant exception: the Tana River, which

has experienced a major decline in the past 10–15 years.4 In 2020, the Norwegian

scientic advisory board for salmon management characterized the status of several

salmon stocks in the Tana Watercourse as “very poor.”5

The Tana River serves as a border between Norway and Finland; it is part of the

Tana Watercourse and is one of the largest salmon rivers in Europe.

The Tana Watercourse is located mainly in the Norwegian municipalities of

Tana, Karasjok, and Kautokeino and in the Finnish municipality of Utsjoki, and is

home to some 30 genetically distinct stocks of salmon.6

The principal river of this watercourse is the Tana River. It is 211 km long, and

most of it serves as boundary line between Norway and Finland.7 Total annual

Norwegian and Finnish catches vary from 50 to 250 tons (15000–60 000 salmon

units),8 decreasing in recent years: the average annual catch for 1972–2007 was 126

tons, whereas the average for 2007–2017 was 93 tons.9

According to the salmon registry of the Norwegian Environment Directorate,

the status of Tana River salmon is “very bad” as to spawning stock and harvesting

potential, but “very good/good” as to genetic integrity.10 Of the 18 impact factors

identied, foreign sh species are regarded as having moderate impact, whereas

overexploitation is seen as great.11

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also indicated that several salmon

stocks in the Tana Watercourse are exposed to signicant overexploitation, although

impacted to a much lower degree by other kinds of human activity than shing.12 In

2017, the Ministry concluded that salmon shing would have to be reduced in order

to rebuild the endangered stocks.13

In addition to the Tana River, the region of Troms and Finnmark hosts the

transboundary salmon rivers Neidenelva (Norway/Finland) and Jakobselva

(Norway/Russia). Multi-nation management regimes may represent risks to

salmon stocks, especially if shifting domestic regimes are involved. The analysis

of international regulations and guidelines in this article also has some applica-

tion to these rivers, but the focus here is on the Tana River, for which there exists

an updated bilateral agreement applying to the Tana Watercourse (hereafter: the

Tana Agreement).14

International Regulations and Guidelines on Transboundar y Salmon Stocks

159

As pointed out, the sustainability aspect is signicant regarding the salmon in the

Tana River. However, the indigenous peoples aspect also applies to the salmon man-

agement of the Tana River (in Sami: Deatnu), as the river is subject to traditional

Sami salmon shing. The article will focus on these two aspects, both of which are

The Tana River serves as a border between Norway and Finland. It is part of the Tana Watercourse and

is one of the largest salmon rivers in Europe. Map: Bjørn Hatteng, UiT The Arctic University of Norway,

with permission from the copyright holder, Tanavassdragets skeforvaltning.