Salmon grow much faster in the ocean than in the river. Towards the end of the first winter in the sea, we call the salmon adult. Salmon can be in the sea from one to five years. Then it heads back to the river where it was born.

The ocean is huge and we still have a lot of questions about how the salmon live there. But thanks to clever scientists, we have recently gained a lot of new knowledge about the salmon in the sea. The researchers have, among other things, affixed special tags to salmon. These marks tell us where the salmon swim, what temperatures it stays in, and how deep it swims and dives. Now we know that salmon stay closer to the surface in summer, fall and spring than in winter. In addition, we know that it can take deep dives. Dive as low as 900 meters deep has been recorded.

While in the ocean, salmon migrate farther than we have previously thought, in fact all the way to Greenland and Svalbard. Salmon enjoy cold waters, especially where cold water from the Arctic Ocean meets warmer waters from the Atlantic Ocean. There is a lot of food there. For long periods of time, salmon swim around in water colder than 5 degrees.

We know that the migration route varies from salmon to salmon, and that salmon from different parts of the country go to different areas of the ocean. With as many wild salmon populations as we have in Norway, there is still a lot we don't know. Therefore, it is important to have new knowledge about the salmon in the sea, so that we can take care of it as best as possible. For now, there are fewer salmon surviving their stay in the ocean than there were before.

The journey home

It varies how long the salmon are in the ocean before it swims back to the river say to spawn. Some go home after just one year, while others stay in the ocean for up to five years before returning home.

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