The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC) has awarded the Ympäristöavaus (or "Environment Initiative") accolade to the Finnish Federation for Recreational Fishing (FFRF). The prize was awarded to the federation on Saturday at the Finnish Nature Centre Haltia, located in the Nuuksio National Park northwest of Helsinki.
FANC praises FFRF for its decision to not host the 2017 fly-fishing world championships in Pudasjärvi, Northern Ostrobothnia. The fishermen from the federation say they based their boycott on the fact that the city of Pudasjärvi is going ahead with its plans to build the Kollaja reservoir, which is against the FFRF's environmental objectives.
The federation's chair Markku Markkula says that the Iijoki river is one of Finland's most popular fishing and tourist attractions, and that it has every opportunity to develop further as a salmon and trout river without hydroelectric plants endangering the species that inhabit it.