Across Europe, healthy fish populations depend on well-functioning aquatic ecosystems. In Finland, EAA member organisation – Finnish Federation for Recreational Fishing – has taken a concrete and successful step in this direction through the “Pike Factory” (Haukitehdas) project – an ambitious, science-based initiative aimed at restoring pike spawning habitats and strengthening pike stocks for the long term.
Project overview
Finnish EAA member SVK has started the whole project idea throughout the country. Several other actors – such as the Natural Resources Institute Finland, WWF, the ELY Centres, Metsähallitus and Turku University of Applied Sciences have been inspired by SVK’s project and they have also started to do their own projects for spawning habitat restorations.
SVK also have helped them implementing their own projects.
Why Pike matter
Pike are widely distributed across Finland and are not endangered as a species. Yet in many waters, pike populations – and especially their size structures – are only a shadow of what they once were. This decline matters far beyond angling.
As a top predator, pike play a crucial role in maintaining balanced fish communities. Strong pike stocks help regulate prey species, support biodiversity, and even contribute to controlling eutrophication and its cascading negative impacts on water quality. At the same time, pike are among the most valued sport fish in Europe, generating significant economic benefits for local communities through recreational fishing.
Given their ecological importance and socio-economic value, allowing pike stocks to weaken or collapse is simply not an option.
Healthy pike populations also contribute to wider EU objectives on biodiversity restoration, water quality improvement and ecosystem-based management of aquatic resources.
Project rationale & approach
The Pike Factory project aims to create and restore pike wetlands, remove migration barriers, and carry out various other restoration activities to improve pike breeding conditions.
This especially as, human activities have significantly reduced the number and quality of shallow wetlands, flooded meadows and vegetated bays that pike depend on for successful reproduction. Even where pike remain common, weakened recruitment and altered size structures signal broader ecological stress.
The project identifies historically important or potentially suitable spawning sites and restores them through targeted measures, including:
- Re-establishing water connectivitybetween spawning areas and larger water bodies
- Adjusting water depths and flow conditions
- Restoring vegetation and shallow, rapidly warming zones
- Ensuring safe migration routes for adult pike and juveniles
Each site is designed to function as a “pike factory”: a highly efficient natural nursery producing large numbers of young pike under favourable conditions.
One of the most critical bottlenecks lies in spawning habitats. Over decades, many of these areas have been lost or degraded by human activity. Even small changes in water depth, connectivity, or vegetation can make the difference between successful spawning and total recruitment failure. Pike reproduction is highly sensitive, and details matter.
This approach is underpinned by a clear diagnosis of the main pressures affecting pike reproduction and recruitment. These pressures can be grouped into three interconnected problem areas:
- Eutrophication, which alters water quality and vegetation dynamics
- Changes in species composition, affecting food availability and survival rates
- Human-made physical changes to habitats, such as drainage, shoreline modification, and loss of wetlands
Key results & achievements
During the Pike Factory project:
- Numerous pike wetlands and spawning areas have been restored and establishedon the Finnish coast and inland waters.
- New methods have been developed and tested,such as:
- Artificial levees, where reedbeds that have been converted into land areas have been restored to suitable spawning areas for pike.
- A vegetation removal method that makes wetlands produce life faster.
- “Fish chutes” are walkways made of boards in the reeds that allow fish to reach spawning areas without major earthmoving work.
- Awareness has been raised and actors trained, thanks to which taking pike into account is now part of many watershed and wetland projects.
- Network actors and volunteers have been activated, whose contribution has been crucial in practical renovations.
Case study: Puosletinjärvi (Kustavi)
A concrete example is the renovated spawning site at Puosletinjärvi in Kustavi, completed during the winter of 2023–2024:
- Area: 2.7 hectares
- Swimming distance from the sea: 850 metres
- Height difference from the sea: 0.5 metres
- Depth: 0.3–1.5 metres
According to locals, Puosletinjärvi used to be a popular spawning ground for fish. However, the upper part of the drainage ditch has now grown so densely with lake reeds that the fish no longer have a good chance of reaching it for a long time. Following targeted restoration measures, including the renovation of the sluice and removal of reed barriers, fish regained access to the lake.
Initial manual mowing carried out by volunteers demonstrated the site’s potential, as spawning activity increased immediately. This early success justified a more permanent investment, and in winter 2023–2024 mechanical restoration using a floating pontoon machine was carried out, carefully removing reed roots without altering the ditch profile.
In the fall of 2022, mowing operations were carried out by hand on the drainage ditch. At the time of the start, the task seemed almost insurmountable, as the overgrown section of the ditch was just over 200 meters long and the reeds were high.
Photo credits: SVK, 2025
The access for fish, which was created with the help of volunteers, was so heavily used in the spring that a more permanent renovation was considered worth the investment. At the turn of the year 2023-2024, a floating pontoon machine was brought to work on the site.
Photo credits: SVK, 2025
A small “talikka” bucket was used as the machine’s bucket, as we didn’t actually want to dig the ditch itself, but only remove the reed roots from it.
Photo credits: SVK, 2025
A model for Europe
The Pike Factory project demonstrates how targeted habitat restoration, strong partnerships and angler engagement can deliver measurable ecological and socio-economic benefits. By restoring natural reproduction processes, the project strengthens fish populations, supports biodiversity and enhances the sustainability of recreational fisheries.
As pressures on aquatic ecosystems continue to grow across Europe, the Pike Factory approach offers a practical, scalable model that can inspire similar initiatives in other EU Member States.
More information
Project website: http://www.haukitehdas.fi
SVK press release: https://www.vapaa-ajankalastaja.fi/uutiset/haukitehdas301025/
