The Tana river of Lapland is the best salmon river in Europe

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The Tana river of Lapland

All photos in this article: Olav E. Johansen/Ossimellom.

The Tana river is well known for its salmon fisheries. It is the best salmon river in Finland and in Norway. And probably it is the best in all of Europe. The biggest Atlantic salmon was taken in Tana by Nils Mathis Walle in 1929 . It weighed 36 kilos. About 1000 kilometres of the river with its tributaries have salmon.

A specialty for the Tana river is the drift net fishery and the salmon weir fishery (see top right photo). There is a separate law regulating the salmon fisheries in the Tana river.

"The big river"

The Tana river is 348 kilometres long. It is the longest river in Lapland. In the Sami language it is called Deatnu and Teno in Finnish. The name means "The big river". (When you search on the web, you'll often land at sites in Africa where there is another Tana river). In Norway it runs through the municipalities of Karasjok and Tana. In Finland it runs through the mincipality of Utjoki. About 256 kilometres of the river forms the border between Finland and Norway.

The drainage basin of the river covers 15.330 square kilometres. 70 percent of this being in Norway and the rest in Finland.

Bridges

There are 3 bridges across the river. The southernmost is at Karigasniemi in Utsjoki and Grensen in Karasjok on road no. 92 between Kaamanen in Finnish Lapland and Karasjok in Norwegian Lapland. The next one is at Utsjoki on the E-75. This bridge is called the "Lapland Bridge" and was opened in 1993. Did you, by the way, know that the E-75 starts in the island Crete in the Mediterranean and ends at Vardö on the Arctic Ocean coast?

The northernmost crossing is at Tana bru, still on the E-75. The first bridge at this place was blasted by the German troops as they withdrew before Sovjet troops in the autumn of 1944. The new bridge was built in 1948.

Beside the Tana bru bridge there is a 12 metre high fishing rod which was made from the remains of the old bridge found on the river bed adjacent to the new bridge.

Ice roads

In winter there are two socalled ice roads where you can cross the river. The road is made on the ice covering the river. Normally only lighter vehicles can cross legally. One is at Polmak near Tana museum and the Polmak Customs office connecting the E-75 with road no. 895 which goes between Skiipagurra and the Finnish border. The other ice road is at Rustefjelbma connecting road 98 with road 890. Road no. 98 goes between Tana bru and Lakselv. Road 890 goes between Tana bru and Berlevåg on the Arctic Ocean coast.

The Tana fiord

The river runs into the Tana fiord. The Tana river delta is one of the biggest untouched delta areas in Europe. At this delta you can watch many birds and flocks of seal and also fish sea trout from 17th July till 30th August.

The Tana fiord is 65 kilometres long and it is ice free all year round. This fiord is in the municipalities of Deatnu/Tana, Berlevåg and Gamvik. The biggest fiord arms of the Tana fiord are Vestertana, Tarmfjorden, Smalfjorden, Leirpollen, Langfjorden, Hopsfjorden and Trollfjorden.

From this map you can navigate in all directions of the Tana river and find all places and roads mentioned in the article.

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