The Adaptation of Professional Fishing to Diminished Vendace Stocks: The Case of Finnish Inland Waters

Abstract

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.

Interlocked use of inland fish resources: a new management strategy under private property rights

“…Inland fisheries concentrated on 67 main lakes of 300 lakes larger than 10 km 2 , with the result that individual fisher's fishing grounds overlapped considerably. However, despite difficulties in obtaining commercial access to privately owned fishing grounds in recent years (Sipponen et al. 1999), demand for remote grounds harbouring stronger stocks was unexpectedly low.…”

“…In addition to fishing grounds, portfolio management might also include a portfolio of employment as wages and agriculture income substitute for fishery income during periods of weak stocks (Sipponen 1998; Sipponen et al. 1999).…”

“…Although many of the key features predicting successful co‐management (Pinkerton 1994, 2003; Berkes, Mahon, McConney, Pollnac & Pomeroy 2001) are inherent in these regions (Sipponen 1999a), they have failed to improve access to commercial fishing grounds. Inadequate access has been regarded as one of the most severe obstacles inhibiting recruitment to the commercial fishing sector in Finnish inland waters (Sipponen, Niittykangas & Salo 1999).…”

Does a property rights regime affect the outcome of European inland commercial fisheries?

“…The main implications of the resource regime to fishers as entrepreneurs are restrictions posed on fishermen. In order to operate successfully, a fishing enterprise or a fisherman should have access to sufficient waters (in order to find the fish) and to a sufficient number of gears (in order to catch the fish) that would enable long-term fishing activities (Sipponen et al, 1999). From the fisher's point of view, institutional arrangements play a significant role in management as they can ensure fishing enterprises a certain degree of stability in terms of operations and security of access -in particular, regarding capital-intensive sectors like trawling.…”

“…They have experienced major changes over recent decades, especially structural changes. As a branch of economic activity, commercial inland fisheries are more closely bound up with their operational environment than other types of enterprises, dependent, as they are, on factors outside of their own decision-making powers (Sipponen et al, 1999). A peculiar feature of inland fisheries is the deep dependence on resources usually owned by someone else than a fisher.…”