Fishing

	© Liisa Turkia-Kyyrö.

Everyman's right includes the right to fish with a rod and line, or fish through a hole in the ice in the wintertime, in most inland waters and the sea, free of charge. Fishing is prohibited, however, in some rapids and channels in salmon rivers and whitefish rivers, and in certain other protected waters.

The payment of the statutory fishing management fee is compulsory for 18-64-year-olds fishing with a reel and lure, fly fishing, using nets or fish-traps, or fishing for crayfish, anywhere in Finland. Permission to fish is also required, either from the owner of the fishing waters or the holder of the local fishing rights, although this is not necessary for lure-fishing where the angler has paid the provincial lure-fishing fee.

Payment of the provincial lure-fishing fee licenses an angler to fish with a single rod, reel and lure in all unprotected inland and coastal waters within a single province. Separate fees are payable for each of Finland's five mainland provinces, and the licence is not transferable. 

Fishing in the Baltic Sea and the Åland Islands

Finnish citizens, all citizens of the Nordic countries, and citizens of countries in the European Economic Area resident in Finland may fish for non-commercial purposes in state-owned waters in the Baltic Sea, as long as they have paid the national fishing management fee.

The autonomous Åland Islands have their own fishing laws, and recreational fishing rights differ from those in the rest of Finland.