The Tana River
The Tana River (Deanučázádat) is the large border river located between Norway and Finland in northeastern Norway and is historically one of the world's largest rivers with Atlantic salmon.
A total of nine watercourses and 40 rivers
The watercourse is mainly located in the municipalities of Tana and Karasjok in Norway and Utsjok municipality in Finland. Parts of the watercourse are also located in Kautokeino municipality. The total catchment area of the watercourse is 16,386 square kilometers, which corresponds to ¼ of the area of Finnmark.
70% of the catchment area is on the Norwegian side and 30% on the Finnish side. The stretch that forms the national border begins in the upper parts of Anárjohka and extends down to Polmak.
Within the watercourse system, there are 9 larger or smaller watercourses with over 40 rivers, which together constitute 1,200 km of river available for salmon.
To date, nearly 30 genetic populations of salmon have been identified in the watercourse.
Tana Mouth Nature Reserve
The Tana estuary was protected as a nature reserve in 1991. Most river deltas in Norway and Europe have been developed as port areas, for industry or have been used for agricultural purposes. The fact that the river delta is more or less free of interference makes it unique in a global context.
The Tana estuary is also one of the Norwegian Ramsar sites. The reserve is registered in the Emerald Network , which corresponds to the EU's Natura 2000.
The Tana Estuary also has the international status of IBA – Important Bird Area.
All this means that the national obligations to take care of the area are great. The Tana River that flows out here has historically been Europe's most important salmon river for Atlantic salmon.
Duty to care for nature
We love our natural areas and we hope you do too. It is important that you respect and follow the rules associated with the areas.
In Norway we have the right of way, but the duty to take care of nature is just as important. Do not disturb animal and bird life unnecessarily, but enjoy the beautiful seasons we have in Eastern Finnmark.
Take all your trash with you and leave the areas you visit as you would have liked to find them. Traceless travel is the goal!
The nature in Finnmark is vulnerable and takes a long time to recover.
A river in change
Today, the Tana River is under pressure. The salmon population has declined and parts of the river are not reaching the spawning population targets that have been set. Salmon fishing in the Tana River was completely closed in 2021, on both the Norwegian and Finnish sides, after a historically low salmon immigration.
This was the first time in modern times that a complete ban on salmon fishing was introduced in the entire Tana river system. Status of salmon stocks in Tana 2024
The Tana River is home to 14 different species of fish, and fishing for pike, grayling, and trout is still legal if you obtain a fishing license.