Bringing institutional virtues into governance: Integrating the scientific, indigenous, and local knowing in Teno river salmon policy and administration (DEATNU)

Salmon stocks in the Teno River are in decline. To improve the situation, Norway and Finland signed a bilateral agreement in 2017 to reduce the salmon fishing quota by 30%.

In 2021, Norway and Finland agreed on a total ban on salmon fishing in the main Teno river and in the tributaries of the Teno River where salmon are caught. The fishing ban has had serious social, economic, and cultural impacts on local communities. While there is consensus on the need to protect salmon, the design, implementation, and impact of salmon policy has been criticised.

The DEATNU project, funded by the Research Council of Finland, aims to create a comprehensive understanding of the situation, to provide information on the history, status, and future of the Sámi salmon fishery, to reform informed decision-making criteria for salmon policy and to identify ways to improve cooperation between Indigenous Sámi communities and local communities, natural and social science researchers, and governments in salmon policy design, decision-making, and implementation. The research will link scientific, Rive Sámi Indigenous knowledge, and local knowledge on the well-being of salmon populations and human communities to policy-making.

The project is led by Luke’s Research Professor Juha Hiedanpää and the other scientific partner in the project consortium is the University of Lapland (Professor Jarno Valkonen).