In Finland, the nationwide strategy for crayfish management in inland waters was renewed in 2000. The main objective was to maintain and increase the stocks of indigenous noble crayfish, Astacus astacus L. In southern Finland many water courses are being chronically infected by crayfish plague. Consequently, the strategy attempts to restore the productivity of crayfish stocks by introducing plague-resistant signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus Dana.

The conservation of biodiversity in aquatic habitats has become an increasingly important challenge in the management of water resources. In addition to the complexity of the lake fishery and the management structure, the popularity of gill net fishing, in particular, has brought problems when re‐establishing populations of Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus (L.), collecting genetically sustainable numbers of spawners of the land‐locked salmon, Salmo salar m. sebago (Girard), and increasing the population of the Saimaa ringed seal, Phoca hispida saimensis (Nordq.) to a sustainable level in the Vuoksi watercourse, south‐east Finland. The attitudes towards protection among the users and other interested parties vary. In order to enhance the coexistence of the lake fishery and endangered species over large water areas, improved institutional linkages are needed among the local, regional and governmental levels of the fragmented decision‐making regime. Environmental interests should also be integrated into the communication structure.

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The large number of lakes covering 10% of Finland's surface area provide an opportunity for both full-time and part-time professional fishing. However, the development of the fishing industry is hindered by unpredictable fluctuations in fish stocks, by the elaborate hierarchy of the fisheries system, as well as by certain features of Finnish professional fishing, such as the small size of fishing enterprises, the scattered pattern of production, and long transportation distances to the core demand areas. According to Finnish catch statistics, the stock of vendace Coregonus albula has clearly diminished since the mid 1980s. Our results show that full-time professional fishermen differ from part-time professional fishermen in their adaptation to diminished fish stocks: they increase their fishing efforts, they try to extend their fishing grounds, and they switch to or supplement with a new species. Moreover, their desire to develop their fishing is stronger than that of part-time professional fishermen, and they can be regarded as active agents in the fishing industry. When a fishing enterprise has adequate access to fishing grounds and is allowed to use different kinds of gear effectively, it may develop and expand its operations (i.e., use its entrepreneurial capacity). An important policy implication of resource use would be to ensure the availability of fishing licenses to full-time professional fishermen, in the hope that the most active would also lead the continued development of inland professional fishing as a whole.

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