Fishing permits for the majority of Iceland’s salmon rivers have already been sold out, according to Jón Helgi Björnsson, chairperson of the Federation of Icelandic River Owners (Landsamband Veiðifélaga).
In a statement to RÚV, Jón Helgi said that despite a difficult economic situation domestically and abroad, it’s been a very good year for fishing permits, with many of the best rivers already being sold out.
However, Jón Helgi noted that despite healthy sales of fishing permits in the last years, the popular outdoor sport has seen a slight decline recently. “The best fishing is probably in East Iceland,” Jón Helgi stated, “but there were a lot of small salmon there last year. I think we can expect a small improvement from last year, which was a slow year.”
Jón Helgi also noted that increasingly, people practice fishing for the outdoor experience and the socializing, and less so for the fish. Because of changing trends in fishing, large portions of the annual catch are released back into Icelandic rivers: “This practice is also necessary because these stocks are under a lot of pressure from the environment. It is necessary to treat these stocks responsibly, and in recent years, we have seen some results from our effots.”
It is possible to buy a fishing permit (Veiðikortið) for access to lake fishing in some 36 lakes throughout Iceland. For rivers that run through private land, most notably including Iceland’s salmon rivers, separate permits are required. The first salmon of the year are expected to begin appearing around May 20, with salmon fishing season then starting at the beginning of June.
