There are five main producer organisations in Estonia, with five to seven members each. In fact, it is now increasingly difficult for Estonian fishing companies to find qualified personnel (Undrest, 2016). Undrest states that this process was gradual and adds that there was no shift of employment from the fish catching segment to the fish processing segment. Now the industry is more or less stable (Leppik, 2016).Īs a result of the introduction of the ITQ system and the reduction in fleet size, employment in the fisheries sector also decreased. Mauno Leppik, CEO of producer organisation Eesti Traalpüügi Ühistu, states that the majority of industry leavers left around ten years ago. This has created a “healthy industry”, according to Undrest (Undrest, 2016). While the ITQ system reduced domestic competition in the catching segment, membership of the EU has led to greater international competition as well as opportunities. These scrapping rounds occurred in 2005, 20 (Undrest, 2016). ![]() Government regulation induced three scrapping rounds aimed at creating a balance between fleet size and fish stock. ![]() The gross tonnage of the fleet has also reduced. By 2016 there are only 30 active vessels, and 20 companies according to Mart Undrest, executive director of production organisation Eesti Kalapüügiühistu. In 2000 there were 197 vessels and 90 companies active in the fish catching segment in Estonia. This led to a rapid reduction of fleet size. The ITQ system was introduced in Estonia in 2001. The most important export products are: frozen northern prawn frozen small pelagics frozen, fresh and chilled fish fillets preserved small pelagics and smoked fish including salmon and trout (Eurofish, 2015b). Products are destined for both domestic and international markets. This includes: block frozen pelagics, canned products, and smoked and marinated fish. The Estonian fish processing industry produces a range of seafood. As with the Baltic trawl fishery, the Baltic coastal fishery lands mainly herring and sprat (Eurofish, 2015b). However, these fishermen are generally only active on a part-time basis. The Baltic coastal fishery consists of approximately 600 vessels, employing 2,500 workers. These are landed mainly at Estonian ports and sold to fish freezing and processing companies (Eurofish, 2015b). The majority of the catch is sprat and herring. The Baltic trawl fishery consists of approximately 50 vessels, employing 500 workers. These were active mainly in the Northwest Atlantic, Northeast Atlantic and Svalbard. ![]() In 2014, the distant water fleet was composed for six vessels. The Estonian fish catching sector is composed of four segments: the Atlantic distant water, the Baltic trawl, the Baltic coastal, and the inland water fleets. The fish processing segment, although generating more income, did so with a smaller workforce of approximately 127 FTE. This, along with the average vessel tonnage of 4 GT, indicates the small-scale and part-time nature of the majority of the Estonian fisheries segment. The fish catching segment employed 485 FTE. 247 enterprises – 22% of all fishing companies – owned more than one vessel. ![]() In 2015, there were 1,534 registered commercial fishing vessels in Estonia. Its main import partners were Finland (18%), Sweden (18%), and Lithuania (15%). Fish exports accounted for slightly under 1% of Estonia’s GDP.Ĩ3% of Estonia’s fish imports originated from EU countries. The main export destination for Estonian fish products were Finland (20%), Sweden (11%) and the Ukraine (9%). 61% of Estonia’s fish exports were destined for EU countries. The country exported EUR 142 million worth of fish and fish products, while it imported EUR 119 million. Processing generated another EUR 127 million in production revenue in 2016.Įstonian maintained a slight trade surplus in fish in 2016 of EUR 22 million. In 2015, Estonian fishing companies generated EUR 15 million in landings income. Composition of the Estonian seafood sector
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