Finland’s Perspective on Gulf of Bothnia Herring – Scientific Context for Management

In a commentary published on January 16, 2026, Finnish Fisheries Councillor Risto Lampinen responds to the Swedish critique on Finnish herring fishing in the Gulf of Bothnia arguing that the herring stock in the Gulf of Bothnia remains productive and that the Swedish narrative of a herring collapse lacks scientific basis.

Lampinen highlights that the spawning stock of the herring stock is still over 500,000 tonnes, while finishing pressure has been reduced in recent years and is currently below maximum sustainable yield (FMSY). Moreover, Lampinen argue that there is no significant conflict between coastal fishing and trawl fisheries and that both fisheries secure a stable supply of herring for food all year around. Thus, Lampinen sees no justification for restricting trawling without scientific evidence supporting the Swedish claims. Lampinen also points to the importance of having a functioning value chain for herring and processing companies that can increase the production of herring products to secure the production of farmed fish in times of crisis.

Lampinen also corrects the incorrect information that is still being circulated about the use of Finnish Baltic herring catches. In 2024, 84 percent of the catches from Finnish vessels were landed in Finland. Of this volume, 5 percent was used for feed for fur production, 4 percent for domestic food use, and 13 percent for export; 34 percent was used as raw material for fishmeal domestically, and 44 percent for fishmeal and feed abroad. There are no corresponding data for the 16 percent that was landed abroad.

Finland has two relatively new fishmeal plants capable of producing food-grade fishmeal. A large share of the production is used as a feed raw material for the Finnish aquaculture sector. This feed is therefore based on fish from the Baltic Sea and represents a recycling of nutrients, which is consequently better for the Baltic Sea than other fish feeds. Domestic fishmeal production thus also makes a significant contribution to the aquaculture value chain and indirectly to the use of Baltic herring for human consumption and the supply of fresh domestic fish.

While Finland is prepared to consider further fishing restrictions, such restrictions must be based on science and fishing cannot be restricted arbitrarily. Instead, as uncertainty increases ICES can ICES’s capacity to provide reliable scientific advice must be strengthened.

If you want to Risto Lampinen’s full blogpost follow this link.

The Bothnian bay herring fishery: EFFOP’s analysis

As with other European fish stocks, the status of the Gulf of Bothnia herring stock is assessed by ICES using internationally agreed biological reference points. Stock status is evaluated primarily in terms of fishing mortality (F) and spawning-stock biomass (SSB). According to the latest ICES advice for 2025, fishing mortality on the Gulf of Bothnia herring stock is below the level associated with maximum sustainable yield (FMSY). This reflects the application of management measures that have reduced fishing pressure in response to a declining trend in spawning-stock biomass, which remains below the MSY Btrigger reference point. MSY Btrigger functions as a management threshold, below which fishing pressure should be reduced to facilitate stock rebuilding. Consequently, the stock remains biologically productive but has not yet rebuilt to the MSY target biomass level and is currently managed under conditions of increased scientific uncertainty.

ICES assessments indicate that variability in recruitment, changes in growth and weight-at-age, and broader ecosystem conditions are increasingly influential drivers of stock dynamics, alongside fishing mortality.