Fishing

The archipelago is ideal for anglers. During the early summer Baltic herring can be caught. Perch come up to shallow water at midsummer and can be caught from jetties and beaches. During the spring and autumn there are plenty of sea trout. The Stockholm archipelago also has the reputation of being one of the world's best waters for pike. Naturally, you can also buy fish directly from the archipelago fishermen, including freshly smoked herring or salmon.

Study by the Swedish National Board of Fisheries "Coastal Fishing Project":

The leisure fishery in the southeastern part of the Stockholm archipelago was investigated in 1995-1996 by means of questionnaires sent by mail to a random selection of households in the area combined with a field survey. This study was a part of the National Board of Fisheries "Coastal Fishing Project", investigating the structure of both leisure and professional fishery in representative parts of larger, ecologically coherent coastal areas.

The study showed that about 4600 households (i.e. about 7000 people) were actively fishing in the study area. The annual total yield was estimated to 100-120 tonnes. The annual yield per fisherman varied from 17 to 38 kilogram between different fishing categories. The catch was dominated by perch, herring and pike, but the catches of flounder, pike-perch, whitefish and sea trout were also significant. The proportion of the total fishing yield amongst private owners of coastal waters was lower than 20%. (In contrast to other people, private owners in this part of Sweden have the exclusive right to use nets, fyke-nets, long-lines and other passive fishing gears in their waters). The proportions of demersal fish like flounder, turbot, burbot, eel and cod of the total yield were higher for private owners than for other fishing categories, but lower for pike, pike-perch and herring. These differences are explained by the differences in gear selection.

The leisure fishing was concentrated to the inner parts of the archipelago. The high yields of perch, pike, pike-perch, herring and flounder in this retricted area indicated that the full fishing potential of the archipelago should be considerable, and suggested that the utilization of fish resources were amazingly low in large parts of the Stockholm archipelago.