Fishermen receive environmental award for competition boycott in North Finland

Yle News
Posted: Monday, August 31, 2015 at 18:19 — Last Updated: Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 20:31
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A fishing organization in Finland has been praised for its decision to not host the 2017 fly-fishing world championships in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. (iStock)

The Ympäristöavaus 2015 award has been given to the Finnish Federation for Recreational Fishing for its part in helping preserve the Iijoki river.

The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation thanks the federation for choosing not to organise the fly-fishing world championships in Pudasjärvi to protest the city’s pro-reservoir plans.

The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC) has awarded the Ympäristöavaus (or “Environment Initiative”) accolade to the Finnish Federation for Recreational Fishing (FFRF). The prize was awarded to the federation on Saturday at the Finnish Nature Centre Haltia, located in the Nuuksio National Park northwest of Helsinki.

Decision praised

FANC praises FFRF for its decision to not host the 2017 fly-fishing world championships in Pudasjärvi, Northern Ostrobothnia. The fishermen from the federation say they based their boycott on the fact that the city of Pudasjärvi is going ahead with its plans to build the Kollaja reservoir, which is against the FFRF’s environmental objectives.

The federation’s chair Markku Markkula says that the Iijoki river is one of Finland’s most popular fishing and tourist attractions, and that it has every opportunity to develop further as a salmon and trout river without hydroelectric plants endangering the species that inhabit it.