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Return of the Danish Atlantic Salmon
Despite having been totally
wiped out, Danish Atlantic salmon
are now making their way back up their native rivers!
Denmark is a small and flat lowland
country bordered on all sides by the sea. While the surrounding
sea is by no means the ocean (being very shallow with depths
seldom exceeding 20 metres), its coastal waters are extremely
productive when it comes to food for fishes. The often brackish
water abounds in shrimps and forage fish which provide the basis
for the very fast growth of native Danish sea trout.
Despite its tiny size, Denmark
today produces the world's largest sea run brown trout. In 1991
a new record sea trout weighing a whopping 16.7 kilos (36 lbs.
plus!) was caught in Jutland's River Karup! That is today. Earlier
on Danish rivers also produced some of the world's largest Atlantic
salmon with specimens of up to 32 kilos (71 lbs. plus!) being
recorded in historic papers.
If the above sounds like something
close to Paradise, please let me correct you. Being a flat lowland
(its highest point in fact only 173 metres above the sea), Denmark
has a tradition for farming going back several hundred years.
And mind you, Danish farmers are extremely good at what
they are doing. In fact they are so efficient, that today they
pose by far the greatest threat to the Danish environment.
Artificial fertilizers and pesticides
are slowly leaking into our treasured clean ground water, thus
polluting it and creating the need for very expensive cleaning
procedures. As a matter of fact it has been calculated that,
all in all, Danish farmers - despite agricultural export of almost
gigantic proportions - are a financial burden to the Danish society!
Basically due to the environmental harm that they do.
Though Danish rivers today look
very little like they did in them good old days - before the
turn of the century - they still provide anglers with great opportunities
to catch large sea trout, stationary brown trout, rainbows (escapees
from the abundant fish farms in both river and sea) and (in some
rivers) European grayling. Now again, they also boast salmon
fishing of good quality.
Originally, all Danish rivers
meandered their way through forest clad landscapes. Not so any
more. Today most forests have been cut down giving way to extensive
grain fields, and most meandering rivers have been channelized
to provide farmers with an efficient way of getting rid of drain
water from the fields.
Most of the harm was done beginning
in 1864 after the Danish-German war and escallating up through
the first half of this century. The primary purpose was to reclaim
new land for farming.
Today, the Danish government
is very much aware that the times they are achanging, and that
rivers should be left to meander as they once did. Projects are
now being undertaken to put the bends back in some of the major
rivers!
Despite all of this hardship,
Denmark keeps on providing the world's largest sea run brown
trout. Each year a number of fish exceeding 10 kilos (22 lbs.)
are caught. Most of these giants are caught in the rivers of
Jutland (the continental part of Denmark where all the major
river systems are located, the rest of the country being islands
of smaller size).
But today's saltwater boat fishermen,
using downriggers and sophisticated electronic equipment, now
catch an increasing share of the really big ones. Thus the new
Danish sportfishing record, a fish of 15,15 kilos (33 lbs. plus)
caught only last year, in 1992, was taken by trolling in the
sea. The previous record, a fish of 14.4 kilos (31 lbs. plus)
was caught spinning in the River Karup way back in 1939. The
current Danish record sea trout on fly weighed 13,85 kilos (30
lbs. plus) and was caught in the River Gels in 1985.
Originally, a number of Danish
west coast rivers also had an excellent stock of Atlantic salmon
running very big indeed. Thus the Danish sportfishing record
was a magnificent mint bright salmon weighing no less than 26,5
kilos (almost 60 lbs.) caught spinning in the River Skjern in
1956. Unfortunately most Danish stocks have been totally wiped
out since then (again due primarily to the requirements of the
farming industry) so that today we have only one natural stock
left - that of the River Skjern.
But increasing efforts are now
being made to restore the once magnificent runs of huge Atlantic
salmon in the nine major river systems of Jutland. And just this
spring we experienced a number of fresh run salmon in the 20-25
lbs. class being caught as a result of these efforts.
Two salmon restoration projects
deserve special mentioning, namely that of the eastward bound
River Guden and that of the westward bound River Skjern.
The River Guden
The River Guden (though short
by American standards, being only 150 km long) is the longest
Danish river system. It has been calculated that way back in
time, before the beginning of deforestation and dam building
in the 12th century, some 100.000 adult salmon ascended this
widely branched river system each year to spawn! A number which
ranks the River Guden high among the most productive European
rivers.
The original Atlantic salmon
stock of the River Guden was totally wiped out in 1920 by the
building of Tange-værket - a local hydroelectric
power station of fairly small scale but of enormous environmental
impact. A fish ladder was built but was never functional since
its flow was ridiculously low. A new ladder was built in 1980
but never got enough water to work either. The major effect of
Tange-værket though, was and still is the elimination
of the most important spawning grounds of the River Guden salmon.
These spawning grounds now lie buried under mud and several feet
of water in the resulting 10 km long Lake Tange...
After a lot of debate, massive
restoration efforts have been undertaken. Extensive restocking
programmes were begun in 1989 - with impressive results: Last
year, in 1992, an estimated 5.000 mature salmon returned to this
once very prolific lowland salmon river! This season has seen
just as many salmon return to their new river, the two biggest
weighing in at impressive 12 and 14,8 kilos - 26 and 33 lbs.
respectively! A yearly release of up to 250.000 smolts is planned.
But so far the result is but
a large scale Put & Take fishery based on a massive release
of artificially reared salmon smolts. Some of the Danish environmental
groups frown upon this saying that the salmon restoration programme
has been undertaken solely with anglers in mind. And that the
new salmon should be allowed to spawn and thus reproduce naturally.
They certainly have a point there!
Unfortunately, this is not possible
with Tange-værket still being in business supplying
the local community with electricity. If the newly established
Atlantic salmon of the River Guden is ever to become selfreproducing,
Lake Tange has to vanish from the map leaving the important spawning
grounds open to ascending salmon.
Of course this is a matter of
great political interest. Local citizens are fond of the lake
and use it for recreational purposes. They are willing to fight
for its continued existence. On the other hand, in 1982 the Danish
government signed the socalled "Bern Convention"
thereby committing itself to the re-introduction of extinct species
such as the Atlantic salmon in the 8 major Danish river systems
from which it has vanished. And to do that, the lake simply has
to be removed. Biologists from the Ministry of Fisheries state
that very clearly.
At this moment, a political dog
fight is going on in the Danish Folketinget - a battle
versus opponents and supporters of the CO2-free hydroelectric
power in this country. To quote the title of the latest Deep
Purple CD: "The battle rages on"!
In the meantime, the returning
Atlantic salmon stack up under the turbines of Tange-værket.
- desperately looking for a place to spawn...
The River Skjern
In the western part of Jutland,
along the banks of the largest and most famous Danish salmon
river of them all, the River Skjern, another battle rages on.
Here there are no hydroelectric power stations to fight. Instead
the River Skjern has suffered tremendously from the last large
scale land reclamation project carried out in Denmark. It was
undertaken as late as in the early 1960's.
This project transformed about
4.000 hectares of wetland into productive agricultural land.
It also cut out all of the natural bends in the river making
for a very fast run-off in spring and autumn where heavy rainfalls
occur. Unfortunately, the lowering of the ground water exposed
layers of soil containing iron-sulphur compounds. These compounds
were then washed out by the rain - as sulphuric acid -
and ended up in the river as ochre deposits doing irreversible
harm to the environment. Fish and insect life were laid waste,
adding to the already detrimental effect of the channelization
alone.
All of this left the native River
Skjern salmon with but one local spawning site - the lowermost
500 metres of a small tributary stream called the River Karstoft.
Finally - in the 1980's - it was realized that the only remaining
Danish stock of Atlantic salmon was at the very edge of extinction.
Projects were undertaken - funded first by local anglers and
later supported by provincial administration - to secure the
remaining spawning grounds. But it was not until this year, in
1993, that a masterplan to save this valuable stock of Atlantic
salmon and to restock the other 8 rivers was decided upon by
government authorities.
Long before that the Danish Folketinget
decided to put back the bends in the River Skjern. - Out
of sheer love for the environment? Definitely not! The decision
was taken to hold back a substantial part of the enormous load
of nutrients being carried into the local fiord where it did
and still does great damage to the natural environment. Eutrofication
on a very large scale.
In 1989 - after massive fish
kills in the sea - Folketinget decided on a masterplan
to save the seas surrounding Denmark from oxygen deficit and
subsequent fish kills. Part of this plan was to cut down on the
nutrient load from the River Skjern which drains an area close
to one tenth of Denmark. An area infested with polluting fish
farms and intensive agricultural activity. By putting the bends
back in the river and thus holding back the water for some time,
the original lowland areas along the River Skjern will again
be flooded each spring and autumn. During these floods huge amounts
of nutrients will again be deposited on the fields instead of
being carried all the way into the sea.
So far about 40 billion Danish
crowns have been spent buying the land necessary for this huge
project. The EEC has supported the project by sponsoring 15 billion
Danish crowns - a fact very much appreciated by even the fiercest
opponents of the EEC! Of which there are quite a few here in
Denmark...
The River Skjern restoration
project is to be carried out in two years time. In the meantime,
Danish salmon anglers and environmentalists in general await
in great anticipation! This project will be a milestone in Danish
environmental history. If it works out the way it is intended,
similar projects will see the light on other major river systems
in Denmark - to the benefit of the Atlantic salmon we all love
so much.
As both a fisheries biologist
and keen pursuer of the Atlantic salmon with fly rod in hand,
I am again daring to tell my foreign colleagues that, in fact,
I am Danish! So far I have not been very proud to be one of those
marauding Vikings plundering the threatened salmon stocks of
other countries on the high seas...
In this respect I am indebted
to friend and fellow fisherman Orri Vigfusson from Iceland, who
has carried out a substantial part of the negotiations leading
to first the Faroe and then the Greenland salmon fishing buy-out.
With these deals in mind, salmon in great numbers should again
be running the once very prolific Danish rivers - to spawn succesfully
and to please environmentally oriented salmon anglers!
Travel information
Whether you are a business man
passing by or simply a tourist, your port of entrance to the
Scandinavian countries will be Kastrup airport just outside of
Copenhagen. This is where most international flights leave and
land.
From there it is easy to proceed
to the other Scandinavian capital cities - and even easier to
depart for other cities in Denmark. Domestic flights will take
you to Jutland (where all the major salmon and trout rivers are
located) in less than half an hour.
Connecting flights can easily
be booked from abroad as they are all closely linked with SAS,
Scandinavian Airlines System. Count on paying US$100-180 for
your domestic round trip ticket.
If you would like additional
information on when to go where and how to book the best fishing,
feel free to contact me on the numbers and address below:
Phone int. + 45 23 32 89 88 or
e-mail: steen@ulnits.dk
Serious inquiries only.
Steen Ulnits
Postscriptum:
Sadly, the above was written
in 1993. Today, in 1998, nothing has been changed. Farm country
has been bought up for the project, yes. But no other action
has taken place.
It seems that the local farmers
once again want more. Now, more than ten years after the unanimous
decision to put the bends back in the River Skjern, it is again
debated whether it should be done - or not...
Fortunately, the River Guden
still receives some 5.000 mature salmon each year - 1.000 of
them being caught by visiting anglers in the river.
Postscriptum II:
Luckily, the restoration of the
River Skjern was finally undertaken and completed in 1999 and
completed in 2002. Salmon are now ascending a completely new
and refurbished river with its natural bends back in shape.
And numbers of salmon caught
increase year by year!
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