King Harald's salmon fears

Norway's King Harald is anxious about the effects of the country's huge fish farming industry on its wild salmon stocks.

Norway's King Harald fears for his country's wild salmon stocks.

The monarch - a keen fisherman who has just returned from a private salmon fishing trip to Iceland - is worried about the long term effects of his country's huge fish farming industry on the surrounding marine habitat.

He admitted: "There is no doubt there's a conflict between fish-farming and wild salmon."

There are growing concerns over parasites from fish farms that infect the salmon - known in Norway as villaksen- along with the quality of salmon from coastal fish farms.

However Harald - who officially opened the annual seafood industry exhibition Nor-Fishing in Trondheim on Tuesday (17.08.10) - faces a conflict between the need to promote Norway's commercial seafood interests at home and overseas while dealing with the concerns over salmon stocks.

Asked whether the commercial fish farmers are doing enough to prevent the decline of Norway's villaksen the king told Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv: "The future will tell. If it's not enough, the fish farmers must do more."