ST. ANDREWS, N.B. - A New Brunswick-based conservation organization says it's pleased Greenland will uphold an agreement banning the commercial harvest of large Atlantic salmon this year.
But the Atlantic Salmon Federation says it expects negotiations will be tough next year when the deal is up for renewal at the annual meeting of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, or NASCO.
If the deal isn't renewed, the federation says it could have dire consequences for large salmon that feed off Greenland but return to spawn in North American rivers.
"All those gains that we inched ahead on ... all the gains of the Greenlanders not fishing, we will lose them," Sue Scott, a federation spokeswoman who attended a recent NASCO meeting in Ilulissat, Greenland, said Thursday in an interview.
NASCO is made up of countries where large Atlantic salmon are known to spawn or migrate, including Canada, the United States and Denmark, which represents Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
The majority of large salmon harvested off Greenland are believed to be of North American origin.
Since 2003, NASCO has been successful in reaching an agreement with Greenland to limit its salmon fishery to internal consumption, including a three-year deal reached in 2009.
The federation says it fears the deal is in jeopardy now that fishermen in Greenland are pushing for a resumption of a commercial fishery for the first time in a decade.
An organization for professional fishermen in Greenland held a demonstration at the meeting to request a commercial quota for this year but it was denied.
Group chairman Leif Fontaine, in a speech to NASCO, argued for a commercial fishery, noting that efforts in Greenland to restore salmon stocks have been successful. In some areas, he said, wild Atlantic salmon are being occasionally caught as bycatch in the winter months.
The fishermen's group has said it will urge the government of Greenland to leave NASCO.
"Fishermen here have sacrificed so much in the past 10, 15, 20 years and they also base their views on the fact that there is a lot of salmon, wild Atlantic salmon, there in the sea right now," Alfred Jakobsen, the group's director, said from Nuuk, Greenland.
Peter Hutchinson, assistant secretary of NASCO, said both the fishermen and the government of Greenland have indicated they want to discuss a possible reopening of the commercial fishery at next year's meeting.
"The scientific advice this year was still clear, that the abundance of stocks remain low," Hutchinson said in an interview from Edinburgh, Scotland.
"So unless there's a major change in abundance, I imagine the other parties will be pressing hard to maintain the agreement that we've got in place in the moment, or a similar agreement going forward."
He said Greenlanders have always said it will respect scientific advice before implementing a commercial fishery.
"If there's a harvestable surplus and the Greenlanders press for it, and the other parties agree, then it could happen."
Scott noted that the Atlantic Salmon Federation and the North Atlantic Salmon Fund of Iceland recently renewed a private agreement with Greenland fishermen to provide grants to those who do not fish salmon.
The deal has been in place since 2002.
"It's a double reason for the Greenlanders not to fish," she said.
