Who Is Waterkeeper: Thomas Johansson, Swedish Baltic Rivers Waterkeeper
By: Thomas Hynes
Thomas Johansson is the Swedish Baltic Rivers Waterkeeper. He grew up in a beautiful forested area along the Kåge River in northern Sweden. Ever since he was a little kid, Thomas loved wild animals, nature, and fishing. At the time, however, there were hardly any fish left in the river. All of the salmon, trout, and other migratory fish had been gone for over one hundred years due to the many dams built in the 19th century.
Sweden’s rivers had been utilized for industrial uses, such as for timber floating, which is the practice of using the river to transport, or float, trees downstream to be processed in the timber industry. It was good for business, but bad for fish migration.
Thomas knew early on he wanted to do something about it.
“I grew up here and spent a lot of time along the river. When I was 12-years-old, I decided I would work with fishing and rivers,” says Thomas. “I have done this work for a long, long time.”
In 2011, Thomas formed the Baltic Salmon Rivers Association with the intention of protecting Sweden’s rivers and fish populations. Suffice to say, it gained national attention. In fact, one of the organization’s high profile supporters is none other than the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, an avid fisherman and lover of the outdoors. 
A few years later, Thomas learned about Waterkeeper Alliance. He even hosted Waterkeeper Alliance CEO Marc Yaggi for a fly fishing expedition with King Carl XVI Gustaf. Thomas liked what he heard about the Waterkeeper Alliance movement and decided to form Swedish Baltic Rivers Waterkeeper in early 2015. Later that year, he attend his first global conference in Boulder, Colorado. He immediately felt a strong sense of belonging to the worldwide network that Waterkeeper Alliance constitutes.
Thomas’s work in this capacity includes restoring rivers to their natural state. In some instances, this can mean physically restoring the giant boulders that were removed from rivers to allow for timber floating. It also means removing many dams to allow for free-flowing rivers and better fish migration. All that hard work has shown results.
“It took 26 years,” says Thomas, “ but we finally have a self-reproducing population of salmon again.”
It is a remarkable achievement, but it comes with a new host of challenges. For example, now that the fish have returned to the river, so have the commercial fisheries. Instead of protesting, Thomas decided to work with the fishing industry.
“We started to buy out fishing rights for a few crucial weeks every year to give the migrating fish a chance to survive,” says Thomas. “We don’t take things from people. We pay them.”
The program was an immediate success. Other rivers quickly emulated the program. With the assistance of the king, Thomas started an independent Baltic Salmon Fund to buy out even more fishing rights in more sensitive areas. Today, these efforts extend all throughout the Baltics.
Another form of overfishing that Thomas must contend with comes by way of large boats, around 80 meters long, trawling for fishmeal that can be used in agriculture. These outfits don’t only remove salmon from the sea, but everything else the humongous nets can gather. Thomas likens it to a vacuum cleaner sucking up everything in its way. Not surprisingly, this is hurting the ecosystem. To counter this problem, Thomas is working with the Baltic Sea Commission to help establish a common fishery policy, and establish quotas for different fish stocks.
“We hope these efforts work,” says Thomas. “But it’s going slow, probably too slow, cause we are already seeing declining stocks.”
Another challenge comes by way of the unique geography of the Baltic Sea. There is a small outlet near Copenhagen, but otherwise, the sea appears to be almost landlocked. This keeps the sea from flushing out or being replenished with new waters. It means that when the waterbody gets polluted, it stays polluted for a long time.
“We are doing our best now,” laments Thomas. “We have restored our rivers and habitats. But much of the pollution from 25 years ago still remains.” 
Thomas also contends with the threats of hydropower and climate change. There is also toxic pollution, such as PFAS and DDT. He mentions that though he loves fishing and salmon, he never eats it because the fish are too toxic to consume.
Nevertheless, Thomas persists in his mission to protect the rivers around the Baltic sea from various threats with great energy and cheerful enthusiasm. He has worked his entire life at this. Speaking to him, one gets the sense that he has no notion of slowing down or giving up any time soon.
On Thomas’s website, there is a banner that reads: Ingen kan göra allt men alla kan göra något! It translates to ‘No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.’ It’s fair to say that Thomas is certainly doing something.
To learn more about Thomas and his work, please visit: https://balticsalmonfund.com/.