Illegal fishing nets off Garðssandur in Skagafjörður

There were 14 nets in total and some of them were within 2,000 meters of the estuary of Austari-Héraðsvatn. According to Article 15 of the Act on Salmon and Trout Fishing, nets may never be set or have a haul in sea closer than 2,000 meters, if the salmon migrates to a river close by.

The inspectors' measurements also revealed that the mesh size of the nets was 10.6 cm. According to Article 4 of Regulation on equipment and finishing of nets for fishing of seatrout at sea, the maximum mesh size of trout fishing nets is 8 cm.

Most of the nets were tied together in pairs, but in one case three nets were tied together and was therefore 72 meters long in total. According to Article 2 of the Regulation, the length of a net shall not exceed 50 meters.

Finally, it was confirmed that the nets were unmarked, but according to Article 6 of the above-mentioned regulation, a net must be marked at both ends with a buoy along with the name and legal residence/address of the person who has the fishing right in question.

It was therefore clear that the nets were illegal in terms of location, mesh size, length and markings.

Inspectors from the Directorate of Fisheries got in touch with the owners of the nets and the violation was also reported to the police, who confiscated the catch and fishing gear. When the nets were seized, they contained 14 sea trout, four arctic char and two common murre.

The Directorate of Fisheries would therefore like to take this opportunity to reiterate that salmon fishing at sea is prohibited in all respects, according Article 14 of the Act on Salmon and Trout Fishing.