Orri Vigfússon reports on the Norwegian government’s intransigence as it again fails to face the consequences of over-exploitation by coastal salmon-netsmen.

NORWAY HAS at last published the regulations that will govern this year’s netting of wild Atantic salmon at sea off its coast. The new rules were awaited with great hope but I am afraid they make gloomy reading for all with the future of Norway’s once-magnificent rivers at heart.

The majority of the nets that do the most harm will continue very much as before and the changes to the rules are mostly cosmetic. The commercial season in Southern and Eastern Norway is reduced by just 15 days. In some of the Rogaland areas, where netting took place from June 1 to July 15, the start will be delayed to July and end on August 4.

In Hordaland and Bergen district, no …