Marine fishery catch in 2019 slides by 12m kg

Finland’s commercial marine fishery in 2019 catch amounted to 135 million kilograms, which was more than 12 million kilograms less than that in the year before, according to the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

The catch mainly consisted of Baltic herring and sprat caught offshore by the trawler fleet. In coastal areas, fishermen mainly deployed gillnets and traps. While the volume of coastal fishing continued to decrease, catches of some fish species increased.

According to Luke, last year’s Baltic herring catch totalled 113 million kilos, being 14 million kilos lower than that in the year before. The sprat catch remained at the same level as in the previous year, totalling 16 million kilos. Overall, 90 per cent of Finland’s Baltic herring quota was utilised, while the sprat quota was reached in full.

“In 2019, one-third of the Baltic herring catch and half of the sprat catch were landed outside Finland, mainly at ports in Sweden, Denmark and Estonia. The volume of Baltic herring landed abroad has increased. In the previous year, only one-fifth, or 20 million kilos, of the Baltic herring catch was landed outside Finland,” said Luke senior statistician at Luke.

The major fish species in coastal fishing were European whitefish, perch, vendace, salmon and pikeperch. Catches of European whitefish and salmon were low compared with the long-term average, while catches of perch and pikeperch were average. The vendace catch was the highest in nearly four decades.

The value of the catch was EUR 36 million, calculated on the basis of fish producer prices excluding VAT. The most important species in financial terms was Baltic herring, followed by sprat, whitefish, perch and vendace.

The price of Baltic herring intended for human consumption continued to increase. In 2019, the price paid for Baltic herring intended for human consumption was EUR 0.32 per kilo, while it was EUR 0.27 per kilo in the year before.

“The price increase mainly concerned larger herring, which is used as raw material for fillets and smoked herring in Finland. Instead, the price paid for herring used as feed decreased slightly from the previous year due to the downward trend in the fur industry”, said Antti Takolander, Luke Research Scientist Pirkko Söderkultalahti.

The decrease in the price of Norwegian salmon at the end of the year affected the prices of farmed rainbow trout and wild-caught fish. The rise in the prices of the most important coastal fishing species ended. The prices of wild-caught salmon (EUR 6.07 per kilo) and European whitefish (EUR 4.73 per kilo) remained at the previous year’s level, while the producer price of pikeperch (EUR 6.08 per kilo) decreased slightly from the year before. The price of perch (EUR 2.38 per kilo) remained at the 2018 level.

Financially, rainbow trout is the most important fish species farmed in Finland. The price of farmed rainbow trout (EUR 4.50 per kilo) declined from the previous year, with the decrease focused on the latter half of the year, when the global market prices of salmon fell steeply. However, the price of farmed European whitefish reached a new record in 2019, being EUR 10.66 per kilo. While there would be more demand for farmed European whitefish, its farming volumes have remained low.