Complete fishing ban takes effect on Latvia's salmon rivers from October 1

Latvia's Nature Conservation Agency has introduced a complete fishing ban on all state salmon rivers starting October 1, accompanied by intensified enforcement efforts aimed at curbing poaching during the fish spawning season.

Salmonid fish in Latvia are mainly found in the Gauja, Irbe, Salaca and Venta river basins, areas that largely overlap with specially protected nature territories. Each autumn, after spending years feeding and growing at sea, these fish instinctively head back to their native rivers to spawn, navigating by the water's chemical composition and scent. Once in the current, they stop feeding and focus solely on finding gravelly or pebbly spawning grounds, where females dig nests to lay their eggs.

Every fish matters

The agency stresses that protecting every spawning fish is critical to the survival of the species, since the survival rate of young salmonids is low — on average only about 50 young salmon return to their native river. The population faces further pressure from river barriers, warming water, and pollution.

Stepped-up controls and technology

To enforce the ban, state environmental inspectors will cooperate with the State Police, municipal police, and the National Guard, conducting raids across the country both day and night. Enforcement will rely heavily on modern technology, including surveillance equipment and drones fitted with thermal cameras, which help detect violations at night and in hard-to-reach locations.

Illegally catching salmonid fish during this period carries criminal liability, along with an obligation to pay damages of 715 euros for each protected fish caught and killed.

Under Latvia's fishing, crayfishing and underwater hunting regulations, keeping caught salmon and trout from inland waters is prohibited year-round, except in certain licensed locations between January 1 and September 30. In designated salmon rivers, fishing is banned entirely from October 1 until the end of the spawning season. Other salmonid species — such as brown trout (alata), brook trout, whitefish and vendace — are subject to their own separate seasonal bans.