Documentation of statistics fish catch and production

Data description

Fish catch and production is a summary of the commercial and recreational fish catch from sea areas and inland waters, as well as from the aquaculture.

In addition, the statistics present the official estimates of commercial catches of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) by country and key species in the Baltic Sea.

The statistics were formerly called Total Fish Production. Name was changed on 26 January 2023. Title of statistical release was changed on 31 January 2023.

Classifications

Catch and food fish production volumes are presented annually. Catches are presented by fish species and separately for commercial and recreational fishermen. In addition, the number of fishermen and the number of people employed in aquaculture are presented annually. Information is presented separately for inland waters and sea areas.

Coverage

The statistics cover all fish species caught by Finnish commercial fishermen, regardless of the fishing area, the catches of recreational fishermen in Finland, and all fish farmed in Finland for food production. 

Statistical concepts and definitions

In these statistics, commercial fishermen mean persons engaged in fishing activities for the purpose of sales who are listed in the register of commercial fishermen maintained by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre) for Southwest Finland. A commercial fisherman can be a natural person or a legal person, i.e. a company.

A person is considered as a recreational fisher when he/she has fished at least once during the year. A person is considered to have fished even if they had only rowed or steered the boat while someone else was fishing.

An aquaculture employee means a person employed by an aquaculture enterprise.

Catch statistics are presented as a nominal catch in accordance with the international practice. The term “nominal catch” means the landed catch. It is shown as non-gutted fish, i.e. as live weight. The nominal catch does not include discarded catch.

The crayfish catch is not included in the statistics.

Aquaculture production means fish farmed in Finland for human consumption. The statistics only covers products intended for consumption that are not further processed. The statistics does not include deliveries of roe or newly hatched fry, or crayfish production for human consumption.

Food fish is reported as non-gutted weight. Food fish producers can report their production either as gutted or non-gutted weight. In the production estimate, gutted rainbow trout and European whitefish are converted into non-gutted fish by using the factors of 1.20 and 1.10, respectively. Food fish production also includes fish supplied for fishing ponds.

The fish catch in the Baltic Sea is reported by the vessel flag country, fish species in, and ICES sub-division.

Statistical unit

Collected data and statistical units are described in the quality reports of Official Statistics of Finland (OSF), which act as source data for the statistics on fish catch and production. 

Population of the statistics

The population of commercial fishermen used in the statistics consists of the register of Finnish commercial fishermen. The statistics are comprehensive. This means that the population includes all commercial fishermen.

With regard to recreational fishermen, the population consists of individuals who have fished in Finland. Not all foreign fishermen are included in the framework population. The sample size has been 6,000–11,000 households. One household consists of the persons living permanently in the same dwelling unit. Sampling is targeted at persons aged between 18 and 74.

Regarding aquaculture, the population consists of the enterprises included in the aquaculture register at the end of the statistical year. The statistics are comprehensive for aquaculture.

Measuring unit 

Catches and food fish production are presented in thousands of kilograms.

Reference area

The whole of Finland, divided between sea areas and inland waters. For catches in the Baltic Sea, the entire Baltic Sea down to the ICES sub-division.

Chronological coverage

Finnish fish catches and fish production are presented starting from 1980. Total catches in the Baltic Sea are presented from 2006 onwards.

Distribution frequency

Annually

Base period

These are not index statistics.

The statistics are compiled based on the Act on the Natural Resources Institute Finland (561/2014), the act on food and natural resource statistics (562/2014) and the Statistics Act (280/2004). The legislation forming the basis of the source data of the statistics, i.e. commercial marine fishery, commercial inland fishery, recreational fishing and aquaculture, is presented in the quality report of each statistics.

More information: Statistics legislation

Confidentiality is a base principle of statistics and assures the confidential processing of data provided by informants, and the Natural Resources Institute Finland has undertaken to follow this principle.

More information: Privacy policy – Statistics

The disseminations of the Natural Resources Institute Finland are published online on weekdays at 9:00. Data is public after it has been published on the website.

Release calendar

Publication dates are confirmed in autumn together with the action plans. The release calendar of the following year is published for users in the end of the year. The release calendar contains data on the dates of future publications. The calendar also contains direct links to already published statistical publication.

Release calendar access

Statistical releases calendar | Natural Resources Institute Finland

Quality assurance

In compiling statistics, the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) complies with the Code of Practice (CoP) for European statistics and the Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) based on it. The CoP concerns the independence and liability obligation of statistical authorities and the quality of processes and published information. Its principles are compatible with the principles of official statistics approved by the UK Statistical Commission and supplement them. In addition, the quality criteria set for the Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the CoP. Its principles are also compatible with the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM).

User satisfaction

Feedback is collected from the users of the statistics, especially when revising the statistics. Feedback is also received directly. In addition, we investigated the wishes of users for developing the statistics in the autumn of 2021 and beginning of 2022, when updating the work programme for the Natural Resources Institute Finland. We follow the received feedback and take it into consideration in developing the statistics.

Completeness 

The statistics on fish catch and production provide an overview of fish catches and food fish production by combining the information included in four different statistics. Each of these covers the requirements of EU regulations and the national phenomenon-specific data needs.

Overall accuracy and reliability

The statistics are compiled based on the catch and production volumes included in the statistics on commercial marine fishery, commercial inland fishery, recreational fishing and aquaculture. Their accuracy has a direct impact on the accuracy of the statistics on fish catch and production.

In compiling the statistics on commercial marine fishery, all parties engaged in commercial marine fishery are assumed to have reported all their catches since 2015. Previously, catches by non-respondents were estimated, and non-respondents were assumed to have behaved similarly to the respondents meaning the proportions of fishermen with catches and fishermen without any fishing activities were identical. Based on the interview of non-respondents in 2013, non-respondents accounted for 0–3.6 per cent of catches, depending on the species.

The fact that not all fishermen report their catches decreases the accuracy of the statistics on commercial inland fishery. The response rate among group I fishermen was 60–70 per cent, and that among group II fishermen was 40–50 per cent, in 2016 and 2020. Due to non-respondents, information has been requested from non-respondents annually starting from the statistical year of 2016. The catches included in the statistics involve inaccuracies due to sampling errors.

The statistics on recreational fishing are based on a sample survey, and they involve inaccuracies due to sampling. The reliability of a certain catch estimate depends on how many households engaged in fishing activities have caught the species in question, and on how great the differences are between the catches of various households. The most unreliable estimates refer to species caught by only a few households or to catches with great variation. Households in which all persons were aged 75 or older are not included in the sampling. Persons permanently residing in institutions, such as residential care homes for the elderly, are also excluded from the sampling. For recreational fishing, however, this under-coverage is small. The impact of the measurement error has not been identified.

In recent years, the response rate for the aquaculture statistics has been in the range of 89–98% as result of the increased number of non-respondent surveys. Uncertainty caused by non-responses is the highest for the species whose production is low. These estimates are statistically more inaccurate, because the species are reared only by a few fish farms. 

Timeliness

The statistics will be published every year starting from 2022 by the end of the year following the statistical year. The statistics on recreational fishing are produced during even statistical years, while the previous year’s information is used during odd years.

Comparability - geographical

The information is comparable in the national regions included in the statistics.

Chronological comparability

The statistical methodology has been changed on several occasions, and the statistics are not fully comparable chronologically. The changes are described in the quality reports of each set of statistics.

Uniformity across statistical areas

The statistics on fish catch and production are compiled based on the catch and production volumes included in the statistics on commercial marine fishery, commercial inland fishery, recreational fishing and aquaculture published in the statistical database.

Source data

The statistics are compiled based on the summary data included in the statistics on commercial marine fishery, commercial inland fishery, recreational fishing and aquaculture published in Luke’s statistical database.

Information on the official nominal catches in the Baltic Sea is obtained from the ICES’s public database Catch statistics.

Data collection frequency

Annually, with the exception of the statistics on recreational fishing every two years.

Data collection method

The statistics are compiled based on the summary data included in the statistics on commercial marine fishery, commercial inland fishery, recreational fishing and aquaculture published in the statistical database.

Validation of data

The verification process for the statistical information and the quality assurance process for results are described in the quality reports of the source statistics.

Processing of data

The processing of data is described in the quality reports of the source statistics.