LATVIA
National Fisheries Producer Organisation, Latvia’s biggest ďŹ sheries PO
Implementing an ambitious development plan The Latvian eet is organised into three producer organisations (PO), bodies responsible for the day-to-day management of the ďŹ sheries. The largest of these, the National Fisheries PO, comprises 12 members who represent the largest ďŹ shing companies in Latvia and a total quota of over 34,000 tonnes or some two thirds of the total national quota.
NFPO, the biggest producer organisation in Latvia, represents over half the vessels in the national fleet. Here, offshore fishing vessels in the port of Ventspils.
T
he National Fisheries PO’s quota includes a herring quota which amounts to two thirds of the national allocation and a sprat quota which accounts for almost three fourths. Of the 52 vessels
currently in the national fleet, about half belong to the NFPO. The vessels are pelagic trawlers targeting sprat and herring in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga with a small bycatch of cod.
As cod quotas collapse, small pelagics fisheries earn sustainability certification Cod quotas in the NFPO amounted to about 20 of the
total Latvian quota of about 4,600 tonnes (the average of the decade to 2019). In 2020 however the quota collapsed to 308 tonnes and prospects of it improving in the future are remote. The European Commission’s proposal
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