More fish caught in Finland in 2023

The total of 128 million kilograms of fishes were caught in Finland in 2023 and the amount is three million kilos higher from the previous year, said the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) in a press release on Friday.

The catch volume ranged from 105 to 193 million kilos in 1980–2023.

Baltic herring and sprat caught by commercial fishers accounted for two-thirds of the total catch.

Commercial marine fishers caught 90 million kilos of fish, being 3 million kilos more than in 2022.

Recreational fishers caught 5.6 million kilos of fish from sea areas in 2022.

The commercial inland fishery catch was 4.9 million kilos, being slightly less than in the previous year. Recreational fishers caught 28 million kilos of fish from inland waters in 2022.

Measured by quantity, vendace was the most important species in commercial inland fishery, accounting for 41% of the catch.

Three quarters of the commercial catch of pikeperch was caught in inland waters. Recreational fishers caught more than 80% of the total catch of pikeperch.

The recreational catch of 33.5 million kilos in 2022 accounted then for 27% of Finland’s total catch.

In 2023, 15.2 million kilos of fish were farmed for human consumption in Finland. Of this, rainbow trout accounted for 95%, with the remaining proportion mainly consisting of European whitefish.

Farmed fish means food fish produced for consumption and fish supplied for fishing ponds.

In 2023, registered commercial fishers totalled 4,900, and the number was more than 200 higher than in the year before.

Fishers numbered 2,140 in sea areas and 1,700 in inland waters.

Full-time fishers numbered 400 in sea areas and 360 in inland waters.

Aquaculture employed 1 090 people. The number of recreational fishers was almost 1.8 million in 2022.