Small-scale fishers on Finland’s frozen Lake Inari are being trained with EU funding to offer guided visitor experiences as changing ice conditions and fish behaviour affect their work.
Only six of the 18 fishers working on Lake Inari remain fully active, with many reporting shifts in fish behaviour and ice conditions, the European Commission informed in a statement on Wednesday.
Tourism is increasingly being used to diversify incomes, after visitors began approaching fishers directly on the ice, it added.
“We could see how much knowledge the fishers carried, and how valuable it could be if shared in the right way,” Virpi Jääskö of the Sámi Education Institute said.
“Through our training, we simply gave them the tools to turn that knowledge into something visitors can experience and appreciate,” he added.
Using EU funding, the Sámi Education Institute has provided hands-on training in customer service, pricing, outdoor cooking, English and ice safety, with support delivered through the Lapland Fisheries local action group (FLAG).
FLAGs are local partnerships that channel funding into fisheries and coastal communities.
New tourism packages on the ice
Five activity packages are now available, including guided ice-fishing, outdoor cooking and lake tours.
Pilot sessions with tourism companies have taken place, and fishers are designing and selling the packages.
A key goal is to keep younger fishers in the profession, and one young fisher has already secured contracts for the coming season.
The project is also developing an accessible fishing activity for people with disabilities, the podcast episode said.
Fishing is described as a long-standing tradition in Inari, and the project includes sharing fishers’ stories and their connection to the lake with visitors.
“Visitors are genuinely interested in the fishers’ stories and their connection to the lake,” Jääskö said.
