Import volume and value: 79,800 tons, worth €138 million
Export volume and value: 86,000 tons, worth €164,5 million
Fish production: 141,798 tons

Lithuania featured in EUROFISH Magazine 5 2009

Lithuania joins Eurofish

Lithuanian fisheries exports almost double in 2001

• Aquaculture in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Fishery Department under the Ministry of Agriculture

Lithuanian State Pisciculture and Fisheries Research Centre

Coastal Research and Planning Institute (CORPI)

Center of Marine Research (in Lithuanian)

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Fish processing shows strong growth

The fisheries sector in Lithuania includes the marine fishery, the inland fishery, aquaculture, and the fish and seafood processing industry. The total value of the sector is less than 1% of GDP (2005), but it has a disproportionate economic and social role to play in small communities around the country.

The marine fishery in Lithuania is further classified into the distant water fishery, the Baltic Sea fishery, and the coastal fishery in the Baltic Sea.

Distant water fleet catches increase

According to the European Commission’s fleet register the Lithuanian fleet has 221 vessels. There are fourteen vessels above 40 m in length with an average age of thirty years. Of these thirteen vessels are currently fishing in the high seas, says Aidas Adomaitis, Director General of the Fisheries Department in the Ministry of Agriculture. The areas covered include the Atlantic off the coast of West Africa, in the South Pacific off Chile and Peru, and in the NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fishery Organisation) and NEAFC (North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission) areas. In addition there are two shrimp trawlers in the Svalbard area in the Arctic. The vessels in the South Pacific and off West Africa are primarily pelagic trawlers targeting mackerel, horse mackerel, sardinella, and sardines. The distant water fleet will probably be reduced by one or perhaps even two vessels in the near future, says Mr Adomaitis; one owner is using EU support to scrap his vessel as he wants to leave the fishery, while in the case of the other vessel the final outcome has not yet been decided. The companies that own the vessels in the distant water fleet are well capitalised whether the capital is from Lithuanian or foreign investors and the vessels are modernised. These vessels are typically over 40 m and up to 136 m in length. Total catches by the distant water fleet have increased from 146,000 tonnes in 2004 to 160,000 tonnes in 2008. Over this period the main increase has come from catches in the Moroccan exclusive economic zone which went up from 8,700 tonnes to 48,000 tonnes, as well as from the beginning of fishery activities in South Pacific. Click here for more...