EVENT REPORT – Movie screening & policy debate: “A Baltic Salmon requiem FREE FALLING”

26 November 2025

On 04 November, MEP Niclas Herbst (Germany, EPP) chaired a conference of the RecFishing Forum entitled: Movie screening & policy debate “A Baltic Salmon requiem – FREE FALLING”. The conference report is now available.

During the event, key speakers provided paramount contributions, with an opening statement by Emilie Björkman, movie director of “A Baltic Salmon requiem – FREE FALLING”:

Emilie Björkman: “when I was 15 years old, I fell in love with fishing (angling) for wild salmon, it was a wonderful time then to be out in nature.” And she added: “we shouldn’t give up hope just yet and we shouldn’t stop caring for the Baltic. We really need to act now!”. Also: “if we (the fly-fishing/angling community) don’t go out in the rivers, who’s going to care for our beloved salmon?”

Kaare M. Ebert (EAA representative): “A part of people’s local cultural identity is restored again when salmon are back in a river valley… river fishing (for salmon) just in the Torne River (Sweden) creates 11 million EUR per year, the Mörrum River (Sweden) 4,5 million € per year, and a single salmon caught by recreational fishers at sea in Finland is worth 1.150€… But to create these social and economic values, we need salmon in rivers, we need proper fisheries management.”