Private fish processor investing in the FLAGs

Finland has seen a sharp decline in the number of fishermen in recent decades. At the same time, many fish stocks are healthy and underexploited, and yet much of the fish eaten in the country is imported. To address this situation, the Bothnian Bay FLAG meets several times a year with the Finnish processing company, Hätälä, to explore ideas for safeguarding Finnish fisheries and promoting the consumption of local fish species.

The good work that FLAGs in Finland have been doing to attract young fishermen to the sector and the trust that Hätälä has developed in the FLAGs, led to an innovative idea. As part of a year-long campaign to better promote wild Finnish fish and improve the visibility and image of fishing as a profession, Hätälä proposed to donate a percentage of its sales of Finnish fish to the FLAGs - to be reinvested in supporting Finnish fisheries.

Starting in January 2020, for every “campaign package” of Finnish fish sold, Hätälä donates 10 cents to the Finnish FLAGs. Similarly, each month Hätälä promotes a specific species (Burbot and Pike-Perch in January, Vendace in February etc.) and for every kilo sold of this “fish of the month”, 20 cents is also donated to the Finnish FLAGs. The money raised will be transferred to the 10 Finnish FLAGs at the end of the campaign year. Together, in the meantime, the FLAGs are starting to study options for how best to reinvest this money in safeguarding the future of their fisheries.