Press release, 3 June 2021
At the beginning of June, 460,000 freshly hatched juveniles of Atlantic salmon and 60,000 sea trout will be planted in the river Iijoki and its tributaries. Restocking supports the creation of salmonid stocks stigmatised in the river. The fish that are now being planted will start to migrate in smolts within a few years, when they can be monitored in studies carried out in Haapakoski.
‘We plant trout in the Loukusanjoki and Pärjänjoki rivers, salmon in the main stream of the Iijoki river and in the Livojoki river. End of summer from our experimental fish for restocking”, says the batch planner Eero Hartikainen About the forest management.
The young were purchased from the Natural Resources Institute Finland and they are planted by Metsähallitus. The plantings now being carried out are expected to produce several thousand smolts.
‘Increases in the number of young plantations are planned for the coming years, while dam bypass solutions are advancing at the bottom of the river’, notes the project manager of the Iijoki migratory fish project 2020-2022 Mirko Laakkonen Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia.
The restocking of small juveniles is part of the Iijoki migratory fish project 2020-2022. Other measures of the project include the construction of a downward migration path for smolts to Haapakoski, as well as over-transfers and monitoring of salmonids. The project is implemented by PVO-Vesivoima Oy, the Lapland ELY Centre, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ii, Oulu, Pudasjärvi, Taivalkoski, Kuusamo, the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia, the Iijoki fishing area, Metsähallitus, the North Ostrobothnia ELY Centre and the Natural Resources Institute Finland. The project is coordinated by the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia. The total budget of the project is approximately EUR 2.2 million.
The project has received funding from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's NOUSU programme, which improves the living conditions of migratory fish and aims to restore the natural reproduction of migratory fish stocks in Finland's current waters.
More information on the Iijoki migratory fish project 2020-2022: Mirko Laakkonen, Project Manager, Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia, tel. +358 40 685 4036, mirko.laakkonen(at)pohjois-pohjanmaa.fi
