FARNET
Fisheries Areas Network
FLAG Factsheet
The FLAG is located along one of Sweden's four national rivers famous for salmon and trout fishing, both by professional fishermen and recreational anglers. The Vindel river system is one of the best protected Swedish rivers. Fishing in the area (especially for trout and salmon) is regulated in different ways by national rules.
The Stornorrfors power station, which poses an obstacle to the salmon run, is one of the FLAG’s key challenges. Coastal commercial fisheries also find the marketing of their products at regional level very challenging, because this small-scale northern fishery is not well known and other commercial fisheries have a bad reputation in Sweden due to overfishing and contamination. Entrepreneurs who work with fishing tourism also face difficulties reaching out to a larger market.
The FLAG considers coastal commercial fishing and angling tourism as two equal sectors capable of developing and operating side by side. The goal is for both activities to provide new employment opportunities. The FLAG’s strategy intends to achieve this by promoting a strengthened fish resource and by improving its management and availability for users.
By the year 2020 the FLAG partners plan to have a strong and well-managed resource, more jobs in the coastal commercial fishing and additional companies working with fishing tourism. They also aim for fishing in the river Vindelälven to become more popular among anglers and the focus on environmental measures contributing to national environmental and water legislation to be maintained.
To develop an inclusive fishing industry, the FLAG intends to involve more young people and women in the process. Special actions are envisaged for this objective.
Local level (Umeå, Vännäs, Vindelns, Lycksele, Sorsele and Arjeplogs municipalities, County Administrative Board of Västerbotten)
This is a mono-fund FLAG financed only by EMFF. When preparing the strategy, the FLAG had discussions with three other areas that were also in the process of developing a strategy and shared some parts of the FLAG territory. In the finalisation process of the four strategies, it was agreed that Leader Vindelälven alone would apply for EMFF funding as this area has the best potential to develop the fisheries sector.
Two of the other areas, Skellefteå Älvdal and Leader Lappland 2020 had their strategies approved, the third area (Leader UR) did not but it still goes on with its Leader work with other sources of funding.
Today, the four organisations are working closely together, especially on tourism development as fishing is a main attraction of the region.
The FLAG partnership is composed of the municipalities of Umeå, Vännäs, Vindelns, Lycksele, Sorsele and Arjeplogs, County Administrative Board of Västerbotten, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), the Vindeälven Biosphere Reserve (Biosfärsområde Vindeälven), Ume-vindeälvens fiskeråd , Sportfiskeentreprenörerna and Vattenfall