Hooked on salmon: EU-backed efforts to protect Sweden's threatened wild species

The number of wild salmon in the rivers of northern Sweden goes up and down year to year, it’s notoriously hard to predict. Still, the chance to catch this mighty fish has been attracting anglers from around the world ever since Sweden brought its wild salmon populations back from the edge of extinction a few decades ago. So how did Northern Sweden manage to preserve its wild salmon when many other regions couldn't?

Norrbotten County is a vast, sparsely populated part of Sweden where recreational fishing isn't just fun — it's economically vital.

Each year, salmon runs lure anglers from around the world — like Marko and Pyry, Finnish fly-fishers back for another season on the Torne River with a local pro Michael Stein: “The key there is, you know, you have rivers that don't have hydropower on them. They're not polluted, they're clean. And the fish have a chance to live and thrive there. Places like that where you take care of it and preserve it — that's where you would find your good salmon angling in Europe.”

Dan Blomkvist, Norrbotten County's senior fisheries officer, guided us through the Europe-backed efforts to protect and revive these crucial waterways. Wild salmon hatch in the rivers before migrating to the Baltic Sea:

“The rivers are important for salmon because they're their breeding ground, that's their kindergarten and their reproduction area. Obviously for the people living there, it's not just the resource and the fish swimming there — it's pretty much part of the identity,” he said.

In many ways, salmon shaped the history, traditions, and ancient fishing ways of this land. But by the 1980s, salmon populations crashed, threatening to erase this living heritage.

“For a long time, the salmon stock has been