ESTONIA
Kallaste Kalur focuses on pike-perch
Fishing for profit as well as for pleasure Fjodor Pleshankov, the owner of Kallaste Kalur, is a fifth generation fisherman. For Mr Pleshankov fishing is not just an occupation, it is also his hobby. Fishing was in his blood, so when in 1992 an opportunity presented itself to take over a fishing collective, he grabbed it. With the privatisation the activities that had been carried out by the collective were continued and Mr Pleshankov added marketing and sales as well.
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oday Kallaste Kalur has 300 gill nets and 105 fyke nets in Lake Peipsi and the fish is unloaded at a processing facility at the quay. The facility was built with the help of SAPARD funding in 2000 originally as a place to unload the fish and store it under conditions that met the EU’s hygiene standards. A processing facility was built later and today the company has some twenty people employed to process the fish.
Deployment of gear is strictly regulated A fleet of vessels and teams of fishers are deployed to catch the fish.
Each team comprises five fishers, many of whom are under contract with the company to supply it with fish, but are not employed by the company. The vessels that are typically used are small plastic boats, but the company also has two bigger vessels. Fishing in Lake Peipsi is subject to regulations governing among other things the type of gear that can be used and the periods when it is permitted. According to Mr Pleshankov gill nets can be used from 1 January to mid April, and are prohibited from 1 May to 1 September. Fike nets on the other hand can be deployed when the ice breaks up in spring from 1 May and up to 15 October. From 1 August Danish seines can be used though before
they are deployed the fyke nets are removed from the water. The Danish seine is a long net with two ropes at its ends which are used to herd and haul the fish. In summer the water is warmer and oxygen levels lower and the fish get quite passive. In addition the
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weather at the end of summer can get stormy which tends to make the water muddy. The combination of inactive fish and muddy water tends to reduce catches in fixed gear like the fyke nets. Fishers therefore switch to using the active Danish seines. Kallaste
Phone: +45 6222 2843 Fax: +45 6222 8632
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Mr Pleshankov, the owner of Kallaste Kalur, built this machine himself. It is basically a Ford Escort with a 1.8 l engine and equipped with huge tires that allow it to float in water, equipment to drill holes in the ice, and skis to negotiate snow. So far he has driven 2,000 km in it. Many of the fishers in Lake Peipsi have similar machines and in the third week of February all the trucks are paraded in the local town. www.eurofishmagazine.com
Eurofish Magazine 5 / 2013
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