Orri Vigfusson, the Icelandic conservationist who set out to protect Atlantic salmon by retiring all the commercial salmon licenses in the North Atlantic – and, after 20 years, has eliminated 85% of them.
Orri Vigfusson is an Icelandic businessman, environmentalist and “green capitalist” whose ambitious goal of saving the dwindling North Atlantic salmon led him to seek ownership of every commercial salmon-fishing licence in order to retire them, and ultimately to close the entire commercial Atlantic salmon fishery. Over the past 17 years, through his North Atlantic Salmon Fund, Vigfusson has bought and retired 85 per cent of commercial salmon quotas and licences in the North Atlantic basin. The remaining 15 per cent is held chiefly by Norway, but also by Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Orri is actively pursuing those as well.
