New hope in the fight against gyrodactylus

ill photo fishbooking.com

Børge Brende the current environment minister has proposed a massive program to rid Norway of the dreaded parasite gyrodactylus.

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The director of fisheries has put forward a plan to eradicate the parasite from Norwegian rivers with in ten years. This could be the blessing for many of the effected rivers here. Currently there are 42 catchments and 37 fish farms that are infected with the parasite.

A budget of 350 million kroner (35 million punds) has been ear marked for this project. The minister has claimed that this is a small figure in relationship to the amount of money the tourist industry loses each year. He also claimed that this is an important task for any environment minister. Under the current salmon protection act Norway has promised to uphold the future genetic population of Norwegian wild salmon.

The regions that have been placed on the list are as follows: Storfjorden and Lyngen in Troms, Ranafjorden, Sørfjorden and Elsfjorden in Nordland, Vefsnfjorden and Leirfjorden in Nordland, Beitstadfjorden in Nord-Trøndelag, Sunndalsfjorden and Batnfjorden in Møre and Romsdal, Romsdalsfjorden in Møre og Romsdal, Lærdalsfjorden in Sogn og Fjordane and Drammenfjorden

A small group of rivers have already begun their treatment and it is claimed that the economic lose to these rivers is 20-25 million kroner, here is the list of the river that are under treatment: Steinkjervassdraget, Figga og Lundselva.

We are optimistic that the new national budget will approve the new program and we will be the first to inform you if it is passed.