Sustainable Salmon Angling Tourism in a Changing World

The SALMONCHANGE-project provides new knowledge for sustainable development and innovation in Norwegian salmon fishing tourism during a period with regionwise decline in stocks and uncertainty about and change in the salmon fisheries. Through interviews and surveys with anglers, river owners and other fishing tourism actors we investigated the social and economic consequences for these actors and how they adapt. Skullerud and Stensland (2013) found in Lakselva River that the "Catch and release" and "Trophy" anglers were the markets segments best adapted to rivers with strict fishing regulations and catch restrictions. Stensland, Aas and Mehmetoglu (2013), showed that voluntarily release was influenced by to what degree anglers believed that (i) they could handle the fish in a correct manner, (ii) the fish survived, and (iii) catch & release had a positive effect on the fish stock. What one believed fishing buddies, family members, and other anglers want you to do with the catch also influenced catch and release. Stensland and Aas (2014) found that informal norms and accompanying sanctions (self-punishment or self-reward) such as a feeling of pride, guilt etc. influenced whether anglers choose to release or keep large salmon. Voluntarily release existed in all angler segments (Trophy, catch & release, harvester, and something else). Release of fish is however much more common among "Trophy" anglers than in the "Harvester" group. A catch & release norm is emerging in Norway. This will change the salmon fishery by focusing more on conservation, but also create conflict with more consumptive oriented anglers. This struggle for power between the "elite/catch & release proponents" and "folk fishing/Harvesters" and who has the power to define who is right is specifically addressed by Øian et al. (2017). Participation went down from a top of 81.000 registered salmon anglers in 2006/07 to a low 64.000 in 2014. Stensland, Fossgard, Andersen, and Aas (2015) in a national survey showed that the average angler spent fewer days fishing per season, and her/his satisfaction was decreasing over time. Those quitting angling to a stronger degree fished their local river, were younger, and less interested in angling than those who kept on. Anglers were moving over time, and some followed the salmon to where fishing was good. Local anglers had reduced their fishing the most. Especially the Trondheim fjord rivers have lost market shares. Activities such as other types of fishing and hunting were seen as substitutes by many. The quality of fishing had the largest influence on Norwegians? participation in angling in 2014 (Stensland, Aas & Mehmetoglu, 2016). Fishing regulations and catch restrictions also had an impact. Skills, knowledge and money, besides different adaptations in time and space were important negotiation strategies among anglers to keep on fishing. To increase participation, we suggest increasing salmon abundance, offering longer fishing stretches per angler, and providing better information about where to book salmon angling. In a similar study in Iceland (Stensland et al., 2017) the price of fishing was the factor influencing participation the most. Salmon angling in Iceland had an image of being good, with many and small salmon, and expensive, while Norway was seen as a place offering a chance to catch large salmon, but managing their stocks badly due to impact from salmon lice, farmed salmon, and little use of catch & release (Bjornsdottir 2015; Stensland et al. 2017). In Stensland and Kristiansen (2013) river owners were on average neutral to pessimistic about the future of angling tourism in their river. Salmon fishing tourism as in income strategy was positively associated with (in decreasing importance) current income from angling tourism, own view on future stock status, catch possibilities on own property, interest in salmon management, and being a river owner in Orkla rather than Verdal. Given the decline in stocks, there are challenges for growth and development in the fishing tourism industry. Stensland, Fossgard, Kristiansen, Navrud and Aas (2014) revealed that the fishery and the fishing right, had a value far beyond the revenue generated for owners. The average minimum annual compensation (63 075 NOK) riverowners in the two rivers stated they wanted if the rivers were to be closed for ten years, was much greater than the average annual net income from fishing in 2012 (25 524 NOK). Net present value of lost fishing for a 10 year period for riverowners in Verdal and Orkla were respectively 45 mill NOK and 221 mill NOK. Short conclusions: Reduced stocks, catch restrictions and the growth of C&R are driving many of the changes seen in the Norwegian salmon fishery. Salmon abundance is a key to reduce conflicts and develop angling tourism. One must design fishery regulations with angler attitudes in mind to reduce conflicts between polarized angler groups.

This proposal aims at providing important, new knowledge about how market segments and angling products are affected and respond to recent changes in Norwegian salmon angling tourism. More specifically we will especially look into how changes affect local economies, type and magnitude of substitution processes among anglers due to resource and regulatory changes and their effects on recreation values, and on how the many, highly contrasting discourses on Norwegian salmon affects branding, image and ident ity of Norwegian salmon angling in different markets. Iceland is a highly interesting contrast to Norway, with recently very good salmon returns, yet salmon fishing tourism has been strongly affected by the financial crisis. A multidisciplinary framework for assessing and analyzing the findings is resilience theory, we aim at providing important contribution to market communication, innovation and product development in the coming years with the goal of builing a more sustainable salmon tourism in Norway. The project proposal is developed in close cooperation with key business organizations and management authorities, and will provide research recruitment through a post-doc. Salmon tourism is a niche activity in Norway, yet the project will provide knowle dge of relevance also to related forms of nature based tourism.