Total fish production 2017

Fish and fishery

Statistics

Total fish production refers to the total volume of catch from commercial and recreational fishing, as well as the amount of fish farmed for food. The total fish production was at its lowest, at 124 million kilograms, in 1991 when the demand for Baltic herring decreased due to an economic downturn affecting the fur industry, and at its largest in 2016 due to a record catch of Baltic herring. In 2017, 205 million kilograms of fish was produced in Finland.
The catch size has varied between 113 and 192 million kilograms in 1980–2017. A total of 50–80% of the total catch has been Baltic herring and sprat caught by commercial fishermen. The majority of this was sold as feed for fur animals and fish. In 2017, commercial fishermen caught 155 million kilograms of fish from Finland’s sea areas.
In terms of both quantity and value, vendace is by far the most important species in commercial inland fishery, and it is also a popular catch among recreational fishermen. Commercial pikeperch catches from inland waters have markedly increased in the 2010s. At present, their share is three-fourths of the total commercial pikeperch catch. In the 1990s, 90% of the commercial pikeperch catch was caught in the sea areas. In 2017, commercial fishermen caught 6.5 million kilograms of fish from Finland’s inland waters.
After Baltic herring, sprat and vendace, the perch and pike catches were the largest. Perch and pike were also the most important species in recreational fishing. Recreational fishermen caught the most fish in the mid-1990s, at which time their catch amounted to almost one-third of the total catch. The recreational catch of 30 million kilograms in 2016 amounted to 15% of Finland’s total catch.
The amount of Baltic herring, sprat, cod and salmon caught, in particular, has varied a great deal over the years due to, for example, the demand for fish used as animal feed, fluctuations in the stock abundance and the fishing quotas determined on the basis of the status of the fish stocks, as well as the development of fishing techniques and methods.

Approximately 14.6 million kilograms of fish was farmed for human consumption in Finland in 2017. More than 90% of the total volume was rainbow trout. The other farmed fish species include whitefish, trout, Arctic char, sturgeon, pikeperch and eel.

Total fish production in Finland

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