A new report shows that Finland’s current large-scale trawl fishing in the Baltic Sea results in a socio-economic loss of nearly five million euros per year. This is at a time when several fish stocks are at dangerously low levels. Calculations also show that a new fisheries policy shifting focus from industrial trawling to primarily coastal fishing for food fish could generate socio-economic benefits of up to 25 million euros annually.
Finland’s herring catches in the Baltic Sea have fallen significantly since the peak year of 2016. Despite catches falling by nearly 60 per cent, several fish stocks are at critically low levels. Previously valuable and prized food fish such as Baltic cod and salmon have declined dramatically and can no longer be fished due to fishing bans.
Coastal fishing, which has traditionally supplied edible fish, has in recent years been displaced by pelagic industrial fishing, which trawls for herring and sprat to produce fishmeal and animal feed.
Even when the value of the large quantities of fish caught is factored in, society is losing out. When revenue from fishing is weighed against the costs of subsidies, tax exemptions, administration and carbon dioxide emissions, there is a net socio-economic loss of nearly five million euros per year.
However, a new report from BalticWaters shows how this trend can be reversed. With a more active and long-term fisheries policy, Baltic Sea stocks can both recover and generate significantly greater socio-economic value. Restricting trawl fishing to 25 per cent of the Baltic Sea’s surface area, together with greater opportunities for coastal fishing targeting fish for human consumption, could yield socio-economic benefits of around 25 million euros annually.
– Fish stocks in the Baltic Sea are alarmingly low. To ensure that Finnish fishermen have fish to catch in the future, we need a fisheries policy that redirects quotas towards coastal fishing for food fish and strengthens protection against trawling. My calculations show that over 50 years this could yield socio-economic benefits of over one billion euros, says report author Stefan Fölster.
– Finland is not alone in facing the problem of a pelagic trawler fleet catching fish for fishmeal. Several countries around the Baltic Sea are seeing both fish stocks decline and the added value of the fish caught fall. Instead of being valued as food fish, it is becoming animal feed. To reverse this trend, both a clear understanding of the problem and a concrete recovery plan are required. Through bilateral cooperation and work within the EU, the Baltic Sea countries can rebuild a future-proof fish stock, says Konrad Stralka, CEO of BalticWaters.
The full report, Finland’s Baltic Sea Fisheries at a Crossroads – Societal Cost or Asset, is available to read and download below.
The value of Sweden’s large-scale fishing
In 2024, Stefan Fölster carried out a similar analysis that estimated the socio-economic value of large-scale Swedish fishing in the Baltic Sea. The results showed that current fishing operations are socio-economically unprofitable. Proposed recovery scenarios, could generate annual profits of up to 260 million kronor, and a present value of up to 13.9 billion kronor over 50 years.
