Status of the Tana/Teno River salmon populations in 2018

• Main Authors: Falkegård, Morten, Orell, Panu, Foldvik, Anders, Erkinaro, Jaakko
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Tana Monitoring and Research Group 2018
• Subjects: exploitation; fisheries management; management targets; mixed-stock fishery; monitoring; overexploitation; pre-fishery abundance; Salmo salar; spawning targets; status assessment; status evaluation; stock recovery; stock status; Inarijoki; Kárášjohka; Kuoppilasjoki; Lákšjohka; Leavvajohka; Máskejohka; Norway; Teno; Vetsijoki; Utsjoki
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2578409

Anon. 2018. Status of the Tana/Teno River salmon populations in 2018. Report from the Tana Monitoring and Research Group nr 2/2018. This report is the second status assessment of the re-established Tana Monitoring and Research Group (MRG) after the new agreement between Norway and Finland. After a summary of salmon monitoring time series in Tana/Teno, we present an updated status assessment of 15 stocks/areas of the Tana/Teno river system. All stocks are evaluated in terms of a management target defined as a 75 % probability that the spawning target has been met over the last four years. A scale of four years has been chosen to dampen the effect of annual variation on the status. Stock status over the last four years (2015-2018) was poor (probability of reaching management target < 40 %) in 8 of the 15 stocks that we evaluated. The best status was found in Veahčajohka/Vetsijoki, Ohcejohka/Utsjoki, Goahppelašjohka/Kuoppilasjoki, and Leavvajohka. The status of the Máskejohka stock decreased from the previous year, indicating a probability of reaching the spawning target over the past four years being now between 40 and 75 %, a change from light green to yellow. Of the stocks with poor status, the most important thing to note is the status of the upper main headwater areas of Kárášjohka, Iešjohka and Anárjohka/Inarijoki and of the Tana/Teno main stem. These areas had low target attainment and low exploitable surplus. These four areas constitute 84 % of the total Tana/Teno spawning target and over the last four years, these areas together have lacked an average of 30 000 kg female spawners to reach their combined management targets. One of the evaluated tributaries, Lákšjohka, was placed in the poorest stock status category due to three years of no exploitable surplus. Of the last four years, there was no exploitable surplus in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and all the coastal, main stem and tributary catch in these three years represent overexploitation. Of the other evaluated stocks, Anárjohka/Inarijoki had no ...