HS in Utsjoki | “A huge piece of life is gone” – Life in the most extreme Finland is changing irreversibly

On Utsjoki the salmon is clearly visible.

The village’s welcome sign glows with colorful pictures of salmon. The hotel facade is decorated by an artist Essi Korvan salmon reliefs, a huge salmon picture fills the wall of the restaurant.

The store sells salmon-themed clothes, souvenirs, postcards and decorative items. Even the mailboxes are decorated with salmon pictures.

Only the salmon itself and the fishermen are missing. There are no people on the river. Boats rest upside down on the shores.

Salmon fishing has been prohibited for three summers already due to the weakening of stocks. However, salmon can be fished in Norwegian waters.

Based on the recently published data by the Norwegian Natural Resources Agency, salmon spawning stocks are still faded both in the main bed of Tenojoki and in the tributaries.

“Teno’s salmon stocks are in a deep trough for the fifth year. The weak situation will continue next year, because this summer only a few small salmon of one marine year were observed”, says the researcher Panu Orell.

Tenojoki has been one of the most profitable salmon rivers in Northern Europe. In the main channel, salmon have been caught with drift nets, i.e. trawling, and salmon dams.

The Teno region and the importance of salmon there are unique in Saami. The Norwegian side does not have as strong a net fishing culture.

“Salmon is the basis for everything, the reason to live here”, says the writer and musician from Utsjoki Niillas Holmbergwho has been fishing since he was a child.

The state of the salmon population affects how waters and lands are used.

“The other side of the matter is how decision-makers react to fluctuations in the salmon population and how they limit our lives,” says Holmberg.

Holmberg has inherited his mother’s childhood home on Jalve Teno. You can no longer fish there for any species, while in most parts of Teno you can catch grayling, for example.

“I am amazed and puzzled by it, because my future is located there.”

Holmberg hopes for research information on the factors affecting the salmon stock.

“The perception has been built that the Sámi would have robbed Teno and emptied it of salmon.”

In addition, Holmberg wants the Sami people of Teno to have stronger agency.

“Teno must be given back to the Sami people of Teno. The less local people have a say, the less opportunity there is to bear responsibility.”

The situation has already given rise to activism and movement.

“You shouldn’t just wait for responsibility, you should take it. It’s great that people of different ages from different fields have started working together.”

The Sámi Council the chairman Áslat Holmbergin on the shore of Tenojoki, a famous boat builder rests Eino Laitin made by tenon boat.

“That is a disappearing tradition, when there is hardly any demand and not many factors,” says Holmberg.

According to him, many tenon boats have been left in the yard or on winter rolls for the third year or sawn in half for decoration. A boat on the beach guarantees at least the opportunity to go out on the water.

“Otherwise I would feel like an orphan.”

In Holmberg’s life, salmon has been a central part of the annual cycle. He already traveled with his father on Teno when he was little. As an adult, Holmberg used to schedule his work trips so that he was home in mid-May, when salmon fishing with drift nets began.

“Through that, I’ve gotten to know teno and salmon and learned fishing methods, gained a certain need for self-sufficiency. Father is an old-fashioned person who has had a hard time sitting still during the salmon fishing season.”

Along the Teno, the viability of farms has been based on salmon fishing.

“In the south there are grain fields, while here, north of the cultivation border, the livelihood has come from salmon,” says Holmberg.

The number of trapping sites was calculated according to the fact that the farm remained viable.

“Now, no farm is like that.”

Salmon is, in Holmberg’s opinion, a good example of how natural resources are managed and whose interests are served by decisions concerning a certain area and the region’s livelihoods and traditions.

“The rights of the owners of water areas and the Sámi people have been restricted with the hardest hand. These messages of structural injustice resonate throughout the Saami country.”

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“Fishing and the entire river-related culture are under our skin.”

Holmberg hopes for clarity on how the right to maintain connection to the water area and the salmon is secured in practice.

“It won’t work unless you can ask for something. We have to find reasonableness and the means to implement and supervise.”

There are precedents from the Supreme Court, where the Sámi have not been fined for illegal fishing on the Utsjoki and Vetsjoki rivers, because they have the constitutionally guaranteed right to practice their culture.

“The key is how legislation is passed on this basis, which guarantees that our rights will no longer be violated. It is legally unsustainable that those who dare can fish.”

Holiday village On the banks of Village Valle, the river flows with force but without rushing, and small eddies embroider the surface.

Tourism entrepreneur Petteri Vallen the family has inhabited Teno’s ruins since the 17th century.

“Fishing and the entire river-related culture are under our skin.”

In Valle’s childhood, the ice break was a big spring event. Father and grandfather went fishing as soon as the river opened. As an adult, Valle spent a month on the river every summer.

In Utsjoki, salmon has meant fresh fish for the dinner table as well as a source of income or at least additional income for the winter.

“When I was young, I bought my first moped with one summer’s salmon earnings. And there was no need to take out student loans.”

Valle founded his company for fishing tourism, like the vast majority of entrepreneurs in Tenojokivarre. Since then, he has expanded the operation to year-round.

However, not everyone has had the opportunity to do so. Especially young entrepreneurs have gone elsewhere.

“Five to six years ago, there were 55 tourism companies here, but now you can count them on the fingers of two hands.”

According to Valle, the spiritual meaning of the river is indescribable.

“This river is full of stories. River Sami culture, people’s lives. Every stone and hill has its name.”

Valle describes how huge a piece has now been jerked out of life. A tear glistens in the corner of his eye.

“It hits you deep and deep in the sternum that you just look at the river and you don’t get to fish. I’ve seen it with older fishermen.”

“It can be done to talk about salmon sadness”, says Heidi Eriksen. He is the director of Ulvja, the Sami psychosocial support unit, and the former municipal doctor of Utsjoki.

Eriksen has found that the decrease in salmon and the fishing ban have increased symptoms of anxiety and trauma, overexcitement and substance abuse problems.

“We Sami people have a comprehensive understanding of health: a healthy person lives in the middle of healthy nature, with healthy reindeer and salmon. Now people are left with nothing. Many avoid even going to Teno’s beach.”

The social interactions associated with salmon have decreased. The Sámi have faced hate speech when they have been held responsible for the salmon’s plight. The difficult situation also exposes the community to internal conflicts.

As sufferers are, according to Eriksen, all generations.

“Elderly people have been fishing all their lives. The adult population, who would be the most active applicants, is concerned with livelihood. Adults do not get to pass on their culture, language, knowledge and skills to children. Children’s and young people’s connection with parents and grandparents can suffer.”

Young people should be able to assess whether they can live here and in this culture in the future, says Eriksen.

His voice chokes. “This is so sad.”

Tenojoki new fishing rules for the border river area have now been negotiated with Norway under the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The rule is supposed to be submitted to the parliament this fall, so that it will come into force before the 2024 fishing season.

In the future, the fishing rules can be adjusted every year, as long as the changes are not too big compared to what was agreed. The aim of the regulation is to promote the ecologically, economically and socially sustainable use and management of Tenojoki’s fish stocks, as well as the indigenous rights and cultural traditions of the Sámi people.

“We have been looking for a quick opportunity to open salmon fishing”, states the negotiating official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Tapio Hakaste.

“Fishing opportunities are tied to the condition of the salmon stocks. Fishing is opened when the proportion of salmon stocks in the weakest state in the river is small enough. The matter is reviewed on a weekly basis based on the migration rhythm of the salmon stocks and the status of the previous year’s salmon stock.”

The fishing rule also includes the possibility to apply for an exception permit for educational fishing or cultural events in order to transfer local and traditional knowledge, even if fishing could not be opened.

Also According to Niillas Holmberg, salmon fishing should be opened, but limited.

“I’ve never heard anyone say that salmon should be fished from the time the ice breaks until the end of autumn as much as possible. It has never gone like that before.”

Áslat Holmberg says that the rights must be related to the condition of the salmon stock. He also considers it necessary to limit the catch.

“In the same way, you can’t ask if there’s nothing to ask for. Rivers can’t handle a lot of fishing pressure.”

For example, it is not worth building a salmon dam just for the sake of a few fish, so you have to try to transfer know-how in other ways.

Petteri Valle hopes for unity in salmon protection.

“If we are brought ashore for salmon fishing, it should also apply to Norwegians fishing in the sea. Tenojoki can’t be a gene bank and fry production area for Norway to catch.”

He also hopes to strengthen local agency.

“The government should understand that we live here quite far away, and this is also the only Sami-majority municipality in our country. We have been treated pretty badly. Instead, you should listen when people are in trouble.”