Commercial marine fishery 2023

Commercial marine fishermen caught a total of 90 million kilos of fish in 2023. It was almost three million kilos more than in the year before.

• The total value of the catch was EUR 38 million, a third more than in the previous year. The total value of the catch recorded by group 1 fishers was EUR 31 million and that by group 2 fishers was EUR 7 million.
• The Baltic herring and sprat catches, mainly caught from the open sea by the trawler fleet, contained 94% of the total commercial marine catch.
• A total of 69 million kilos of Baltic herring and 15 million kilos of sprat were caught. Catches of both species increased by around one million kilos from the previous year.
• One fifth of the Baltic herring catch and a half of the sprat catch were landed outside Finland.
• Measured by value, Baltic herring was the most significant species (EUR 22.4 million), followed by sprat (EUR 5.4 million), perch (EUR 2 million), European whitefish (EUR 1.6), pikeperch (EUR 1.4), vendace (EUR 1.2 million and salmon (EUR 1.1 million).
• There were 42 commercial fishermen fishing with trawls and 950 fishing with trap nets, gill nets and hooks.
• More vendace were caught than at any time since 1980. Perch, smelt, bream and roach catches were also higher compared to the long-term average (1980-2022). Catches of whitefish, salmon, burbot and trout were below average.
• The long term decline in pikeperch catch came to a stop.
• There were 2,133 registered commercial marine fishers in Finland at the end of 2023. Of these, some 400 were group 1 fishers. A commercial fisherman may be a natural person or a company.