A report on iUU fishing of Baltic Sea cod - Fisheries Secretariat

The coastal fleet target Baltic herring, salmon,trout, vimba, flounder, eel and pike perch, andalso sprat and cod in smaller quantities (ICES,2005)The table below provides an indication of thetotal <strong>report</strong>ed landings in 2003 for the Latvianfleets.Total landings 2003 (tonnes)High seas fleet Baltic Sea fleet Coastal fleet42,376 71,566 3,500The table below shows the <strong>report</strong>ed quantities ofthe main species of fish in metric tonnes landedby the Latvian fleet.Main species 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999Cod 6,643 8,741 6,187 7,778 6,914Herring 9,300 11,600 10,100 10,000 8,300Sprat 24,400 34,200 49,300 44,900 42,800Main species 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004Cod 6,280 6,298 4,867 4,634 5,027*Herring 6,700 5,200 3,900 3,100 2,700*Sprat 46,200 42,800 47,500 41,700 52,400*PreliminarySource: ICES, 2005The processing sectorThe fish processing sector is almost entirelysustained by the nations fleets. There are morethan 100 fish processing enterprises in Latvia,most of whom are located on the Baltic Sea andGulf of Riga coasts, close to the fishing ports inthe districts of Riga, Tukums, Talsi, Liepaja andLimbazi (FAO, 2005b).Baltic herring and sprat are the main raw material.Mackerel and Atlantic herring and theirfillets are also being used for processing. Cannedproducts have decreased more recently, beingreplaced by chilled and frozen fish products.This means that export volumes have a greaterproportion of low-added-value products, and aconsiderable part of locally available fish resourcesis being exported (FAO, 2005b).LITHUANIAKlaipeida is Lithuania’s main seaport. The contributionmade by fisheries to GDP is estimated tobe 0.08%, but is more important in coastal areas(FAO, 2005b). In the past few years, the averageyearly yield has been 10,000–15,000 tonnes ofvarious species, 2–3 % of which is caught in thecoastal areas. The main species are cod, herring,sprat and flounder. Some foreign vessels, mostlyRussian, land their catches in Klaipëda (FAO,2005b).As many as 2,500 fishermen are <strong>report</strong>ed to beemployed (FAO, 2005c), which appears to be adisproportionate amount as official figures indicateonly 24 distant water vessels and 292 registeredvessels fishing in the Baltic Sea and coastalregions (FAO, 2005b; Eurofish, 2005; LithuanianMinistry of Agriculture, 2005).No. high seas No. Baltic Sea No. of coastalvessels > 24 m > 12 m < 24m vessels < 12 m24 6 01Source: Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture, 2005Pelagic trawling for sprat and herring and demersaland pelagic trawling for cod is used alongwith some gill netting and very occasionally driftnets and long-lines (FAO, 2005b; ICES, 2005).The Latvian Baltic cod fleet only fish in SD 25-32(Eastern cod stock). Outside of the closed seasoncod is fished all year round and, in some years,as much as one third of the total landings havebeen made in Denmark and Sweden. Herring andsprat are caught all year round, however, there isa marked decrease in effort in the summer. Spratand herring catches are used for human consumption.Due to the lower abundance of cod inrecent years catches of flounder have increased(FAO, 2005c; Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture,2005).The table below shows the <strong>report</strong>ed quantities ofthe main species of fish in metric tonnes landedby the Lithuanian fleet.Main species 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999Cod ,513 5,524 4,601 4,176 4,371Herring 3,600 4,200 3,300 2,400 1,300Sprat ,900 10,200 4,800 4,500 2,300Main species 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004Cod 5,165 3,317 3,317 2,767 2,041*Herring 1,100 1,600 1,500 2,100 1,800*Sprat ,700 3,000 2,800 2,200 1,600*preliminarySource: ICES, 2005– 57 –