A Giant halibutt of 435lb (202kg) cought by a tourist in Nordland. Photo by: Wildwater Fishing AB

- Tourists takes about 3300 tons of fish in Norway each year according to the Institute of Marine Research. A large percentage, 1600 metric tons are cod,  reports the NRK.no in an article on their website.

The numbers appear in a report from the Institute of Marine Research and is based on numbers sent in to the institute over the last 3 years.  And they represent a major contrast to the estimated 15 000 metric tons today’s fishing policy is based upon.

In Norway, tourist fishing has it’s own quota, from the general ammount that commercial fishermen is alowed, and this is likely to be drastically reduced now that this report appears.

Jan Helge Vølstad of the Intitute of Marine Research says to NRK.no that:

– The numbers is based on catch diaries from around 4000 fishing days from the representative tourist businesses. But there will be some businesses  and companies we have not identified, and this we have taken into account in our report.

NRK.no adds that catches are small. On average between 10 -50 kg of fish.

Tourist fishing has however led to some conflicts between commercial fishermen and the tourists. At Sørøya in Finnmark a local fisherman says to NRK Nett TV:

- When the tourists fish under a raised pirate flag (The Jolly Roger) it’s **** provoking. They should at least raise themselves above such acts. Especially when we know the problems fishermen face under the current fishing policies.

And perhaps he has the right to be irritated. On the other hand, tourist fishermen is starting to react against tourist fishing abuse themselves. The person writing under the nick Linehanma on the World Sea Fishing Forum , just returned from a fishing trip to Skjervøy, griped that:

- One of the employees  (at the fishing camp) told us that the week before, some Germans took home 600kgs of fillets, but why do the fish camp not report this !

And recently two Estonians where stopped with more than 100 kg of fillets on the border with Sweden, as the limit is currently set at 15 kilos of fillet. They where fined about 1400 Euros for it.