What does the municipality do?
Skellefteå municipality is actively working together with fishing conservation areas on water and fishing issues to create healthier waters and attractive sport fishing. By continuing the work, we strive to achieve the national environmental goals for our waters. A sustainable future requires a balance in how we use our natural resources and there is a great need for environmental restoration work in and around our waters. In addition to better fishing, this also contributes to a more attractive countryside throughout the municipality.
Flottledsåterställning
Risån
Flottledsåterställning
Tallån
Återintroduktion av öring
Rickleåns källflöden
2025
- In 2025, weather permitting, we will begin work in Ålsån, to recreate important environments that were destroyed during the rafting.
- The nature map is starting to take shape and there you can already find information about fisheries management areas and some of the coast's fishing spots and boat ramps.
- Sport fishing in the Gulf of Bothnia - An ongoing effort to make the entire Gulf of Bothnia accessible to residents and visitors.
- The youth project, Fishing with Aleks
- Fishing supervision along the coast, to protect our stocks from overfishing.
Why is water & fisheries management needed?
Viable fish stocks are the basis for rich sport and recreational fishing. Skellefteå municipality conducts extensive fish conservation, often in collaboration with the associations at the various fish conservation areas.
Many of our lakes and watercourses have suffered in various ways from the industrial development where the water has been used. The most extensive environmental impact on our watercourses comes from timber floating, which continued until the latter part of the 20th century. During this period, many rivers were converted into routes for the transportation of timber from the forested hinterland down to the sawmills, which were often located on the coast. Log driving was extensive and in Västerbotten county alone there were more than 800 miles of public logging roads in the waterways.
To facilitate the passage of timber, the waterways were cleared of stones, straightened and made narrower, which increased the water speed. Dams were built to control the flow of water and thus direct the floating of timber. Boulders taken from the rivers were used to build embankments and stone coffins along the banks to guide the timber and prevent the logs from getting stuck. Many of these stone coffins can still be seen along the waterways.
The municipality's mission and everyone's responsibility
Indigenous species and strains of fish must exist in viable stocks and form the basis for extensive sport and recreational fishing. Some commercial fishing along the coast, particularly in the terminal fishing area, must be allowed to continue, but fish stocks must not be jeopardized.
Affected associations, organizations, the county administrative board, other authorities and municipal administrations must prevent further negative impact on fish stocks and their habitat. The municipality must promote fish conservation that repairs damaged fish stocks. Fish stocks should be able to survive in an environment that is as close as possible to the "original and unaffected" one.
We also want to create the conditions for sport fishing by ensuring waters with viable stocks of 'trophy fish'. We want to influence fishing in the sea so that viable stocks of salmon and trout can migrate up into the wild salmon rivers, while limited commercial fishing along the coast can remain.
Actual work
- Lakes and watercourses are limed annually to improve the ability of fish and other aquatic organisms to live in acidified waters. Water samples are taken to examine the condition of the waters.
- Continuous inventory/sampling of, for example, pearl mussels, fish species and bottom fauna.
- Restoration work to restore the many watercourses in the municipality that have been affected by floating.
- Another type of fish conservation is informing and limiting the catch of fish. The municipality helps associations, for example, to develop appropriate fishing rules when releasing fish.
- Supervision along the coast to protect stocks and contribute to a richer recreational life.
Initially, the work of clearing floodways was done by hand, using simple tools and horses. In the post-war period, with the advent of the tracked carriage, clearing became more efficient and with it the physical impact on the waterways. The scale of the work required to create the logging roads is difficult to grasp and the physical effort of the loggers is in many ways impressive. But unfortunately, the measures that were good for floating were not at all good for the life and ecology in and around the waterways.
Impacts and environmental restoration
In the cleared and channelized watercourses, the total surface area of water decreased, while the rate of natural runoff in the surrounding soils increased. The stone cists along the banks created barriers between land and water, reducing the species richness of the banks and hampering natural processes such as the supply of nutrients and gravel to the watercourse. In many watercourses, it can almost be said that the environments on which fish and many stream-dwelling insects depend were largely lost, such as shallow areas, spawning grounds and deep pools.
Then, with the advent of the truck, timber transport moved from the waterways to the roads, and the logging era was over. Today, the government provides major financial support for water management work to restore healthy habitats in flowing watercourses. By applying for such funds, we at Skellefteå municipality can work on projects where we restore the original appearance and natural functions of the watercourses by, among other things, recreating greater variation in width and depth. In this way, the biological conditions for life in and around the watercourse are recreated.
Our work is always carried out with the necessary permits and in dialog with affected landowners or other stakeholders. For example, this may involve cultural environments such as floating remains. We also work closely with the county administrative board and our local fisheries conservation area associations.
Restoration work in the Bure River is doing good
Since 2015, work has been carried out on restoring the floatway in the main channel of the Bureälven river in the vicinity of Bureå village. Already after the first year of restoration work, we could see that trout were spawning in the new spawning areas created. The restoration not only creates better conditions for the fish and insects in the river, but also better conditions for recreation by creating more fishing spots.
Restoration in the Bure River is a long-term project. Through field surveys, large parts of the catchment area have been mapped and planning of measures has been proposed. Although the work in the Bure River has come some way, many different types of measures remain before the Bure River's aquatic environments meet the requirements set by the EU for the water to achieve so-called 'Good Ecological Status' by 2027.
Here you can read more about various fisheries promotion studies and measures carried out by Skellefteå municipality.
Environmental restoration in Bureälven Stage 2 2017-2020 Final report, 2021
, 4.1 MB.
River restoration in Svartån, Final report, 2021 , 2.5 MB.
Gravel spreading by helicopter in Rickleån's source rivers 2020 , 2.5 MB.
If you want to take part of previous reports that have been made, contact us!
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