Lake Inari watercourse fisheries studies in 2007

This study reports the research results of monitoring the fisheries on Lake Inari in 2007. The total catch of fish on Lake Inari in 2007 was 192 tons (1.7 kg/ha). The increased catch of local household fishermen, amounting to 50% of the total catch, increased the total catch numbers slightly. Species-specific components of the catch were as follows: 61 tons of whitefish, 47 tons of brown trout and 13 tons of Arctic char, with the total catch of all Salmonidae increasing in 2007 to 70 tons. The 19-ton vendace catch was similar to the previous year, making it the fourth relatively strong year-class of vendace to have been monitored in recent years.

The proportion of the total catch caught with gillnetting was 61%, with 76% of whitefish and 57% of brown trout caught in this way. The proportion of stocked fish represented in the whitefish stock was 41, 44, 60 and 52% for the year-classes 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003, respectively. In contrast, the corresponding proportion for the year-class 2004 was only 23%.

Preliminary results suggest that the proportion of stocked fish in the 2005 whitefish year-class would have been about 40%. The proportion of stocked fish in the brown trout stock was only 31% in 2007, contrary to the 50% proportion that was estimated for earlier years. Preliminary tagging experiment results show that the stocking success for 3-year-old brown trout amounted to a 238 kg catch per 1000 stocked fish for the brown trout stocked in the true estuary of the River Ivalojoki, but only 117 kg for the brown trout stocked 5 km upstream (Koppelo) of the river mouth. The third group was stocked in the pelagic area of Lake Inari and this resulted in an intermediate 166 kg catch per 1000 stocked fish. The proportion of stocked fish among the total stock of Arctic char was approximately 67%.