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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Fisheries and for a world without hunger Aquaculture Department

Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profiles The Republic of

Part I Statistics and main indicators 1. Country brief 2. General geographic and economic indicators 3. FAO Fisheries statistics

The Profile (2005)

Additional information 2. FAO Thematic data bases 3. Publications

Source of information 4. Meetings & News archive United Nations Geospatial Information Section http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm Imagery for continents and oceans reproduced from GEBCO, www.gebco.net

Part I Statistics and main indicators

Part I of the Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profile is compiled using the most up-to-date information available from the FAO Country briefs and Statistics programmes at the time of publication. The Country Brief and the FAO Fisheries Statistics provided in Part I may, however, have been prepared at different times, which would explain any inconsistencies.

Country brief

Updated 05-2015

The Republic of Estonia, with a population of 1.3 million in 2013, covers a territory of 45 230 km2, including the two large islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. It has approximately 3 780 km of coastline. Estonia lies entirely within the fishing area. Most of its 420 rivers are short rivers; the longest is the Pärnu River (144 km). Lakes are generally small, except for Lake Peipsi, on the Eastern border, which is the fifth largest lake in Europe.

The Estonian fishery sector includes distant water fishing in the Northwest and Northeast Atlantic, trawl and coastal fishing in the Baltic Sea and inland fisheries. Total 1 446 vessels were reported in 2013. The Estonian distant water fishing fleet consists exclusively of trawlers. The main target are shrimp, Greenland

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department halibut, redfish (Sebastes sp.), and Atlantic cod.

The Baltic fleet trawlers target predominately Baltic herring and sprat while the Baltic coastal fishery exploits the local stocks of valuable brackish water fishes like , pike-perch, flounder, eel, sea trout and salmon. Passive fishing gear is mainly used in coastal fisheries. In 2013, total Baltic and marine catches amounted to 69 400 tonnes. It is notable that was not caught for ten years, but in 2013 the catch of mackerel was 1 370 tonnes.

Estonian inland fisheries (2 900 tonnes in 2013) are based mainly on Lakes Peipsi and Võrtsjärv, targeting primarily European smelt, pike-perch, silver bream, European bream, European perch and European eel. Lake Peipsi has a very rich aquatic fauna with 37 fish species and, thus, it is considered one of the best large fishing lakes in Europe. Lake Peipsi accounted 87 percent of Estonian inland catch in 2013.

Estonia has favourable geographic and climatic conditions for fish farming. Nonetheless, the production of fish, with a peak of 1 300 tonnes in 1991, has decreased significantly to a level around 300 tonnes during 1993– 2004. In 2013, aquaculture output had recovered to a level of 730 tonnes. The dominant species is rainbow trout (63 percent) while there are also minor production of common carp and sturgeon. In 2013, fish farms also bred close to two million of fish for replenishment of fish stock, mainly eel, salmon, and sea trout. Aquaculture provided a job to about 100 people in 2013.

Recreational fishery which concentrates on the Lake Peipsi is carried out mainly in winter ( for perch and whitefish). Also, recreational fishing opportunities for tourists have been widely developed in fish farms.

In 2014, exports of fish and fishery products were valued at USD 256 million, while imports were worth USD 213 million. In 2010, per caput consumption was 14.6 kg. Employment in fisheries has demonstrated a falling trend in recent years. In 2013, full-time and part-time employment of 2 690 people were reported directly in the fisheries sector and an additional 43 155 were reported to be engaged in subsistence activities.

The Estonian fisheries industry relies in general on the fishery resources of the Northern Atlantic, the Baltic Sea and Lake Peipsi. Catches are largely influenced and limited by the related fishery resources dynamics, availability of fishing quotas and the changing market situation. There is still fleet over capacity and surveillance and control is an issue due to a large number of landing sites (private and public) monitored by a small number of available inspectors.

The development of recreational fishery could be seen as an opportunity that has not yet been fully exploited. Currently, the sector is not monitored appropriately and products from the recreational sector enter the market to compete in some cases with products from the commercial sector.

The management of Estonian fisheries is shared by two ministries, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, which creates some inefficiencies and coordination problems. There is also a lack of representation of fishers’ organizations in fisheries management processes.

The Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, is a leading institution in marine research. The Department of Fish Farming, of the Institute of Science of the University of Tartu, is responsible for research in aquaculture.

Estonia became a Party to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

Membership in Regional Fishery Bodies European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC) International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) International Whaling Commission (IWC) FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department General geographic and economic indicators

Table 1 - General Geographic and Economic Data - The Republic of Estonia Source Shelf area 36 512km2 Sea around us: http://www.seaaroundus.org/

European Commission: Length of continental 3 700km coastline http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/emff/doc/op-estonia-fact- sheet_en.pdf

Not Fisheries GVA Available

Source Country area 45 230 km2 FAOSTAT. 2013 Land area 42 390 km2 FAOSTAT. 2013 Inland water area 2 840 km2 Computed. 2013 Population - Est. & Proj. 1.333 millions FAOSTAT. 2018 Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) area 36 257 km2 VLIZ GDP (current US$) 30 732 millions World Bank. 2018 GDP per capita (current US$) 23 266 US$ World Bank. 2018 Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 2.66 % of GDP World Bank. 2018

FAO Fisheries statistics

Table 2 in this section is based on statistics prepared by the Statistics and Information Branch of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department and disseminated in 2016. The charts are based on the same source but these are automatically updated every year with the most recent disseminated statistics.

Table 2 – Employment and Fleet Statistics – The Republic of Estonia

1980 1990 2000 2010 2012 2013 2014 EMPLOYMENT (thousands) … … 13.42 6.07 7.18 6.98 7.58 Aquaculture … … 0.07 0.09 0.08 0.10 0.09 Capture … … 13.35 5.98 7.10 6.88 7.49 Inland … … … 0.77 0.55 0.54 0.55 Marine … … 13.35 5.21 6.55 6.34 6.94

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department

FLEET (thousands vessels) … … … 0.47 0.47 1.10 …

Source: FAO Fishery and Aquaculture Statistics 1) Due to roundings total may not sum up

Please note: Fishery statistical data here presented exclude the production for marine mammals, crocodiles, corals, sponges, pearls, mother-of-pearl and aquatic plants.

The Profile Updated 2005

This country profile provides statistics and indicators produced through FAO’s Statistics programmes, supplemented with information derived from national and other sources and valid at the time of compilation.

Full text of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Country Profile available at /fishery/docs/DOCUMENT/fcp/en/FI_CP_EE.pdf

Additional information

FAO Thematic data bases

FAO Country Profile Marine Resources reports (FIRMS) Alfonsino - Northeast Atlantic Basking shark - Northeast Atlantic Black Scabbardfish - Northeast Atlantic Blue Ling - Northeast Atlantic Blue shark - North Atlantic Blue whiting - Northeast Atlantic Brill - Baltic Sea Cod - Baltic Sea (eastern part) Dab - Baltic Sea European eel - Northeast Atlantic Flounder - Baltic Sea Flounder - Southern Central Baltic East and East of Gotland

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Flounder - West of Gotland, , Bothnian Sea, Bothnian Bay and Gulf of Greater forkbeard - Northeast Atlantic Greater silver smelt or argentine - Northeast - Baltic Sea Herring - Gulf of Riga Kitefin shark - Northeast Atlantic Ling - Northeast Atlantic Marine resources - Northeast Atlantic Orange roughy - Northeast Atlantic Picked dogfish - Northeast Atlantic Plaice - Baltic Sea Porbeagle - Northeast Atlantic Porbeagle - Northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Portuguese dogfish and Leafscale gulper shark - Northeast Atlantic Red Seabream - Northeast Atlantic Roundnose grenadier - Northeast Atlantic Salmon - Salmon - Main basin and Gulf of Bothnia Sea trout - Baltic Sea Sharks - Global Shortfin mako - North Atlantic Sprat - Baltic Sea - Global Starry smooth-hound - Northeast Atlantic Tuna and tuna-like species - Global - Baltic Sea Tusk - Northeast Atlantic Fishery reports (FIRMS) European union : Danish fishing fleet : 2010 Northeast atlantic : Blue whiting fisheries : 2017 World : Deep-sea fisheries : 2009 World : Global Tuna Fisheries : 2009 National Aquaculture Sector Overview (NASO) FAOLEX legislative database Database on Introductions of Aquatic Species Regional Fishery Bodies (RFB) European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC) International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) International Whaling Commission (IWC) FAO Fishing Vessels Finder (FVF)

Publications

List of relevant FAO publications

Meetings & News archive

Meetings archive News archive

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department