Silver & Pearls conference
A little more than a month ago we attended the Silver and pearls conference in Luleå. Two days with focus on silver and pearls. And what do they have in common? They might look good on jewelry, but in nature they have a close bond.
We are of course mostly into salmon fishing and all the news we could get about the Baltic salmon, but as we said, they have a close bond.
River mussels live there live in the rivers growing slowly and they start the life attaching themself to trout or salmon. After sometime they fall off and continue their life. Nothing that harms the fish, so with that in mind. Without silver no pearls.
But let's talk more about the one thing close to our hearts; The Baltic salmon.
There were talks from politicians, scientists, advisory boards and about tourism.
At the moment many things are happening with the Baltic sea and there are not many answers.
As you might know the 2023 salmon season was not the best so far and we still don't know exactly why?
But the main focus is that it's one big circle that can make things difficult for the fish in the sea.
Less food (there are fewer juvenile herring close the shore that previous)
More predation targeting the small salmon and the food for the salmon
Global warming (The sea is getting hotter and that might affect the food of the salmon)
Not enough herring in the baltic sea
We can not only point in one direction and all us who care about the baltic salmon need to take care of the fish.
We as sportfishermen have to look at ourselves and ask why we fish for baltic salmon? To eat it? Or make good memories.
At Kengis Bruk, we make memories and protect the Baltic salmon.
One of the things that might change in the future is more changeable protection. If the government finds a poor rise of salmon in a specific river thet can put regulations on that river in order to protect the salmon.
As a destination living from the source that the river provides us, we really wish for a stable run of fish year after year. That will be the dream for us. For our region it would be a big step towards more tourism and overall there would be fish for everyone. We wish for a long term plan to protect the fish and a long term plan to develop the business around the salmon. It will benefit the region in many ways.
At the moment everyone is asking what happened and trying to find the answers, and there will hopefully be scientific studies about 2023 that can give us some answers.
But meanwhile we will cross our fingers for a better run of fish in 2024 and we will reach out to all fishermen and ask you guys to take care of the fish.
Fight the fish hard.
Use a net
Release all big june fish
Release all female fish at least from ⅛
Limit your time with the fish
The salmon has a high percentage of survival with C&R if we treat them well.
We are still working to get answers and we will do what we can to keep protecting the Baltic salmon, so that we can keep on making great memories at Kengis Bruk.
Thank you for your time.
Aslak Lund - Lodge manager
Photos: Ted Logardt, Tyler Horne, Hooké & Aslak Lund
