Fishing in the Nordic region

For many people in the Nordic region, fish and crustaceans are an important part of their diet. Fishers and their families have traditionally formed coastal communities in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. All these countries have long coastlines and easy access to the sea. Norway, especially, has ideal conditions for fishing. It has a long shoreline — over 100 thousand kilometres — and easy access to the nutrient-rich North Sea.

Roughly 12 000 people make their living fishing in Norway, the most of any country in the Nordic region. As of 2019, Norway was the second largest exporter of fish and seafood. The fishing industry in Denmark generated only around a third as much money, and Sweden only a tenth. The commercial fishing industry in the Nordic region falls into two sectors. Sven works in the first of these two sectors.

He owns a large fishing boat with sophisticated machines that help him fish efficiently. He employs several other fishers. They mostly catch cod, herring, capelin and mackerel. These species of fish are the ones most commonly fished in the Nordic region. Sven and his employees work in the capture fishing sector.

And here is Astrid. She works on a fish farm in the North Sea. Fish farming, also called aquaculture, is the second sector. Astrid’s farm breeds salmon and rainbow trout in artificial enclosures in the sea. Marine biologists also work at the farm, studying the benefits of aquaculture and ways to breed fish better and more sustainably.

Norway and Denmark currently produce the most fish through aquaculture in the Nordic region. The fishing industry is important for the Nordic region as a food industry — not just for human, but also for farm animal consumption. It also provides jobs and contributes to the national economies. But there is more to fishing than that! In the Nordics, fishing is part of culture.

The region’s countless lakes, pristine rivers, long coastlines as well as the nature in the Arctic circle in the North, attract many tourists who fish for enjoyment, rather than for a living. In Sweden alone, nearly one million people fish in their spare time! In recent years, both commercial and recreational fishing are facing challenges. More and more people are moving from small fishing towns to bigger cities. This makes it difficult to recruit new workers in both capture fishing and aquaculture.

Another challenge is that fish are being caught faster than they can breed naturally. So due to this overfishing, wild fish stocks in the region are almost gone. Fish farming is one way to avoid the problem of overfishing. But not all parts of the shoreline are suitable for fish farms — some do not have clean enough water, or don’t have enough nutrients. Another problem with fish farms is that disease spreads rapidly among fish contained in a limited space.

Despite the challenges the industry faces, it continues to provide a living for many people in coastal communities. Protecting fish populations and natural environments is key for fishing to continue thriving here.