LITHUANIA

Lithuania ďŹ sheries and aquaculture

Solid growth in Baltic Sea pelagic catches The Lithuanian ďŹ sheries and aquaculture sector represents a wide variety of activities ranging from catches in various oceans of the world, processing, imports and exports of ďŹ sh and seafood, aquaculture of many different species, and inland ďŹ shing.

D

espite having the smallest fleet in terms of numbers in the EU, Lithuanian fishing vessels are active in the high seas, the open Baltic Sea and the coast. Of the 144 vessels that constituted the total fleet in 2017, two thirds are coastal boats, a quarter are open Baltic Sea vessels, while the rest belong to the high seas fleet. In terms of gross tonnage, however, the proportions are reversed with close to 90 of the total GT belonging to the high seas fleet, 10 to the Baltic Sea fleet and less than 0.5 to the coastal vessels. According to Statistics Lithuania total employment in the fishing sector declined from 611 in 2016 to 557 in 2017 with all the job losses falling to the high seas fleet, the segment which employs some 40 of the total. Employment in the Baltic Sea fleet, with 36 of total employment, and the coastal fleet remained stable. At the national level it is the high seas fleet that has by far the greatest economic impact. Total

The Baltic Sea eet targeting the pelagic species, sprat and herring, enjoyed signiďŹ cantly higher catches in 2018 compared to the year before.

Baltic Sea catches (tonnes) 2014

2015

1,729

2018

Herring

2,153

4,724

5,199

4,036

6,676

Sprat

9,679

11,003

11,548

12,480

16,499

733

272

303

258

365

13,761

17,736

18,719

18,503

24,315

Total

1,669

2017

1,196

Flounder

1,737

2016

Cod

775

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Lithuania

revenue from marine fisheries was EUR60m in 2017 (a 15 fall since 2016) of which 90 was generated by the high seas fleet, 8 by the Baltic Sea fleet and the rest by the coastal segment. In 2017 the high seas fleet was active primarily in the North East Atlantic, the South Pacific, and

the Mauritanian and Moroccan economic zones. In the North East Atlantic the main species caught are redfish and northern prawn, while in both the Mauritanian EEZ and the Moroccan EEZ the most important species are the pelagics – Atlantic horse mackerel, chub mackerel, sardinella, and sardines. According

EUROFISH Magazine 4 / 2019

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