Fisheries and fish processing in Estonia - EM 1/2009

The Estonian fisheries industry - Mergers in canning sector bring results - EM 4/2002

• Aquaculture in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Statistics
• Statistical office of Estonia

Fisheries
• Ministry of Agriculture

Other
• Estonian authorised banks
• Estonian Investment Agency

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Convenience products on the rise

In 2007 the Estonian fishing fleet comprised sixty-eight vessels fishing on the Baltic Sea, six fishing on the high seas, as well as 386 boats for inland fishing and 879 coastal fishing vessels. The coastal fishing zone extends up to 12 nautical miles off the coast or up to the 20 m isobath and the average age of the vessels fishing this zone is seventeen years old.

The Baltic Sea is the primary fishing ground for the Estonian fleets. Both offshore vessels using trawls, and coastal vessels using traps, nets and longlines, fish in the Baltic Sea. The offshore fleet targets cod, bristling, and Baltic herring while the coastal fleet targets Baltic herring, perch, rainbow smelt and flounder among other species. In 2007 catches of Baltic herring amounted to 75 percent of the coastal fleet harvest while bristling dominated the offshore fleet catches with over 70 percent.

High-value deep sea catches

The deep sea fishing fleet with six vessels is active in the Atlantic ocean where it targets high value species such as shrimp, redfish, Greenland halibut, ray, and roundnose grenadier. Although the catches from deepsea fishing amount to only 15 percent of the total Estonian catch by volume they are worth proportionately more than the Baltic Sea and inland water catches.

Stocks in international waters to which Estonia has access such as the north-east Atlantic, and the north-west Atlantic are assessed by international fisheries organisations such as ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Seas). These assessments have become increasingly gloomy over the years as the stock position has deteriorated and as a result the quota allocated to Estonia has been reduced particularly in the north-east Atlantic where Estonian quotas for redfish, roundnose grenadier, dogfish, and blue ling have been cut back between 2005 and 2008 while in the north-west Atlantic quotas of Greenland halibut have been reduced. On the other hand Estonia’s mackerel quotas in the north-east Atlantic and shrimp quotas in the north-west Atlantic have both increased. More...