SAAMI VICTORY OVER FISHING RIGHTS
The indigenous Saami people inhabit the northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula and a large part of the Kola peninsula: in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. About 8,000 Saami live in Finland, which is about 0.16 % of the total Finnish population of about five million […] Politically, the Saami people are represented by three Saami parliaments, one in Sweden, one in Norway and one in Finland¹.
Undoubtedly, knowledge is power and the Saami people prove it with the second victory at the Supreme Court, this time in Finland, when the Supreme Court gave its verdict in favor of the Saami people who resorted to indigenous jurisprudence regarding wild salmon fishing because it is part of their cultural rights.
The fishing tradition among the Saami is millenary, and the people of the region base their diet on salmon, as it is one of the most important foods and constitutes part of food security. On the other hand, it generates income for the fishing families. The Saami people have fought for the defense of their customary hunting and fishing rights in both Sweden and Finland. In January 2020, following a landmark Swedish Supreme Court verdict, the Saami people won the Girjas case to obtain exclusive rights to hunt and fish in their territorial management area. Recently, on April 13, 2022, the Supreme Court of Finland dismissed charges in two cases concerning the Saami’s right to fish in the Utsjoki and Vecijoki rivers, which flow into the Tana River. In both cases, the Supreme Court found that the state fishing regulations were contrary to the Saami’s constitutional rights; this victory is considered a landmark victory because it is the first time that the Court in Finland has recognized Saami rights over fishing.
The two victories are the result of long years of struggle by the Saami people, who through their parliament have prepared and documented their traditional knowledge, indigenous jurisprudence in defense of their customary rights and governance system as an Indigenous People. “The Constitution of Finland contains two provisions relating to the Saamis. […] in section 17, ‘the Saami, as an indigenous people, like the Roma and other groups, have the right to maintain and develop their own language and culture.’ Article 121 states that ‘in their native region, the Saami have linguistic and cultural autonomy, in accordance with the provisions of the Law”².
Through a careful documentation process, they were able to argue that hunting, reindeer herding and fishing are part of their way of life and territorial management. Their actions and victories are a precedent for other Indigenous Peoples in the world who, combining the defense of cultural rights and the intervention of knowledgeable practitioners, supported by a political structure, achieve ambitious goals.
Therefore, the case related to the victory achieved in Finland for the Saami People to exercise their rights to fish wild salmon with fixed nets in the Utsjoki and Tenojoki rivers, without being considered a crime, is a historic event.
The Pawanka Fund supported the work of the fishermen’s organization “Veahčaknjárga Fishing Cooperative” of the Saami People in Finland, which in 2018 implemented a project that made it possible to document through interviews and filming the cultural rights, in this case referring to wild salmon fishing. Fishing communities are made up of both women and men and traditional knowledge is passed down from fathers, grandfathers to sons or daughters; all these activities are related to customary rights and the governance system on land use.
The State of Finland imposed rules requiring the payment of licenses to fish for a limited time per year, therefore, fishing without a license and outside the established time was considered a crime. For that reason, in 2017, members of the Saami people were prosecuted in two cases, when they were found fishing with fishing line and artificial bait and, another member was fishing with fixed nets in the Utsjoki River out of season. Finally, as explained above, after a Supreme Court trial, the Saami people’s constitutional right to exercise their customary rights to preserve their culture was established.
“The Constitution of Finland stipulates that the Saami people have the right to their language and culture. As recognized by the Supreme Court, fishing in general is recognized as an exercise of the Saami, and the Constitutional Law Committee of the Finnish Parliament has considered salmon fishing in the Tenjoki River, in particular, a constitutional right of the Saami. […] However, the situation with respect to the salmon population in the Tenojoki River is very low and the government is considering a total ban on salmon fishing from the summer of the current year 2022, until the end of the year.” It is indicated that the Saami parliament in Finland demanded that this proposal should reflect the decisions of the Finnish Supreme Court, as a total ban would be incompatible with the Court’s recognition that if fishing is somehow allowed, Saami villagers should have priority³.
The planet is changing, due to the effect of global warming and human intervention driven by the needs of the globalized economy. While the Supreme Court verdict in Finland has legal implications, the ecological factor is even more decisive. The reality is that the fish population (wild salmon) is decreasing and its size is shrinking. So there is another challenge for the Saami ancestral fishermen.
In research published by the University of Helsinki, a team of Finnish and Norwegian researchers sought to explain the genetic change in salmon and why they are declining in numbers. Wild salmon returning from the Atlantic Sea to the Tonojoki River, which flows into the Tana Fjord in the Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean, have lost half their weight in the last 18 years. It appears that the large salmon are dying or being caught at sea and the survivors are returning from the sea early to spawn because they need to reproduce, so they are immature and their size is smaller⁴; they used to weigh about 30 to 35 kgs. but today they weigh only 20 kgs.
Their food on the high seas is ostensibly diminishing and they are poorly fed, and in the face of scarcity, wild salmon are endangered and dwindling, because their food base of herring, krill and capelin fish is diminishing. Capelin roe is used as “wasabi caviar” in Japan and, on the other hand, 90% of these fish are used to make fish oil and fishmeal, which in turn is used to fatten salmon grown in fish farms, because the industry, faced with the great demand for marine products, is dedicated to increasing production, something that is not sustainable⁵.
The challenge is not only for the Saami Peoples, but for all Indigenous Peoples of the world and their allies, since their territories and biodiversity are the basis of their survival and they face the consequences of human action and climate change.
In this context, the Saami people, through the organization: Sámi Human Rights Association ALVA, with the support of the Pawanka Fund, continue to collect information on their history, their land use governance systems, customs and customary land use law in the Deatnu watershed in Finland.
The “CustomaryLand Use of Saami in Deatnu Water Basin Finland” Project was implemented by the VeahčaknjárgaFishing Cooperative organization in Finland.
STORIES TO SHARE
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¹ IGWIA. “El Mundo Indígena 2021: Sápmi”. Recovered from: https://www.iwgia.org/es/sami/4165-mi-2021-sapmi.html#:~:text=El%20pueblo%20sami%20es%20el,entre%2050.000%20y%20100.000%20personas. Accessed, June 11, 2022
² United Nations. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. CCPR/C/124/D/2950/2017. Distr. Gen. 18 December 2019. Visited: June 12, 2022.
³ Library of Congress. “Finlandia: Tribunal Supremo dictamina sobre los derechos de los indígenas sámi a pescar” https://www-loc-gov.translate.goog/item/global-legal-moGonzáles, José A. “Los salmones salvajes empequeñecen porque se alimentan peor”. Investigadores noruegos y finlandeses lo atribuyen a la pesca de capelán para engordar a los de granjas. https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/somosmar/pesca-marisqueo/2022/02/25/salmones-salvajes-empequenecen-alimentan-peor/00031645790291086868424.htm. 26 feb 2022. Updated on 04:47 h.) en https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/somosmar/pesca-marisqueo/2022/02/25/salmones-salvajes-empequenecen-alimentan-peor/00031645790291086868424.htm Visited on June 10, 2022.nitor/2022-05-09/finland-supreme-court-rules-on-sami-indigenous-rights-to-fish/?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=es&_x_tr_hl=es-419&_x_tr_pto=sc. Last accessed June 11, 2022.
⁴ Criado, Miguel Ángel. 2021. Recovered from: https://elpais.com/ciencia/2021-07-11/los-animales-estan-encogiendo.html. Accessed on June 10, 2022.
⁵ Gonzáles, José A. “Los salmones salvajes empequeñecen porque se alimentan peor”. Investigadores noruegos y finlandeses lo atribuyen a la pesca de capelán para engordar a los de granjas. https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/somosmar/pesca-marisqueo/2022/02/25/salmones-salvajes-empequenecen-alimentan-peor/00031645790291086868424.htm. 26 feb 2022. Updated on 04:47 h.) en https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/somosmar/pesca-marisqueo/2022/02/25/salmones-salvajes-empequenecen-alimentan-peor/00031645790291086868424.htm Visited on June 10, 2022.
