The number of young recreational fishermen has increased

According to the statistics on recreational fishing in 2020, the popularity of fishing has increased among children and young people, as well as pensioners. The number of fishermen increased relatively the most among women of 18 to 24 years of age, by as much as 50 per cent. Correspondingly, the percentage of working age men from all recreational fishermen has decreased.

In 2020, nearly half of young people in the age group of 10–17 years and more than a third of 18–24-year-olds went fishing. Pensioners also took up fishing, as the number of fishermen of more than 64 years of age increased by roughly a quarter.

“The number of recreational fishermen decreased in the early 2000s, while after 2012 the number seems to have stabilised around 1.5 million,” says Pentti Moilanen, senior statistician at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

Catches by recreational fishermen increased

In 2020, recreational fishermen’s total catch was approximately 30 million kilos, up by roughly eight million kilos from 2018. Perch accounted for 37 per cent of the total catch, while pike made up 21 per cent and pikeperch nine per cent. A total of 36 per cent of the catch was caught using gillnets, while the corresponding figure in 2018 was 31 per cent. The catch recorded by using a spinning rod or by trolling accounted for 28 per cent of the total catch.

Stocked fish accounted for the majority of the trout and freshwater salmon catch

The statistics on recreational fishing in 2020 offer new information on the percentage of naturally born and stocked (adipose fin removed) fish from recreational fishermen’s total trout, salmon and freshwater salmon catch.

“The 2020 statistical survey was the first survey in which we requested information separately about the number of fish with the adipose fin and with the adipose fin removed with regard to the trout, Atlantic salmon and freshwater salmon catch. Fish with the adipose fin removed accounted for 65 per cent of the trout catch, 31 per cent of the Atlantic salmon catch and 90 per cent of the freshwater salmon catch,” Moilanen says.

Information about the statistics

The information is based on a survey with a sampling of 11,000 people living in various parts of Finland, whose names were obtained from the Population Register. A survey was mailed to them at the beginning of 2021. In addition, some of those who failed to respond to the survey were interviewed by telephone. The previous statistics on the number of recreational fishermen were compiled in 2018.The data content of the statistics on recreational fishing is available in Luke’s statistical database.