Baltic Rim Economies - Baltic Port List

Expert article 914 Baltic Rim Economies, 21.12.2011 Quarterly Review 5�2011
decision-making the fisherman has had to give way to the
seals and the cormorants. The views on the effect of the
seals and the cormorants on the fish stocks are different,
but there are suggestions that the effects are significant.
Recent developments in trap design have protected some
part of coastal fishery, but perhaps too much has already
been lost. Professional fishery has also had trouble
acquiring fishing waters and fishing rights. The regional
political dispute as to who can catch salmon and where it
can be caught, has also contributed – in the form of
tightening fishing restrictions - to the diminishing number of
coastal fishermen.
The consumers, however, want to buy natural fish from
their own country. The strong trend of favoring local food
may well prove to be one possibility for the fishery to move
ahead. The consumer pressure may be the only way to
convince the politicians that professional fishery still has a
function in modern society. Perhaps there is, after all, good
cause to make an effort to cherish the small remaining craft
of professional fishermen, working along the coast and
archipelago of the Baltic Sea.
The EU is reforming her common fisheries policy.
Eloquent rhetoric on protecting and supporting coastal
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fishery especially has as yet remained empty phrases. The
coming year will prove whether the EU has a real
inclination to improve the situation of coastal fishery.
Several matters can, nevertheless, be influenced by
national action as well, but that presupposes political will
and courage.
Kim Jordas
Managing Director
Finnish Fishermen´s Association
Finland
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