Changes of the Polish Long-Distance and the Baltic Sea Fishery Structure – an Effect of Mutual Concurrence Or a Decree of the Fate?
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“Not to be cited without prior reference to the authors” International Council ICES CM 2011/D:09 for the Exploration of the Sea Theme Session: Linking the history to the present: understanding the history of fish, fisheries and management Long-term (1920-2010) changes of the Polish long-distance and the Baltic Sea fishery structure – an effect of mutual concurrence or a decree of the fate? Włodzimierz Grygiel, Kordian Trella and Emil Kuzebski Abstract. The study reflects the long-term (1920-2010) changes in the Polish long-distance and the Baltic fishery structure, considered in light of the state’s economical system variation. The species composition of annual landings, technical support and employment in the fishery is analysed. Development of the Polish Baltic fishery was initiated after the World War I, with logistical and technical support of the government. In 1920, the Polish fishing fleet was operated in the Baltic only and was composed of 55 motor-cutters, 16 sail-cutters and 800 smaller boats, managed by private owners, locally associated in the Kashubian Maszoperia. Then 1086 fishermen were active and annual landings were 800 tons, with sprat, flatfish and herring dominance. In 1931, eight Polish vessels operated outside the Baltic for the first time. Beginning from 1947, cooperative, private and state fleets was accomplished the Baltic fishery. Dynamic development of the long-distance fishery, which was steered by state, started in 1960 and in the next 30 years dominated over the Baltic fishery. The Polish historically highest landings (816.7x10^3 tons) of marine species were recorded in 1975 and in 74% originated from 130 vessels operating outside the Baltic. In 1999, total landings decreased about 4-times and only 42% was achieved outside the Baltic. In 1990s the process of the Polish fishing fleet privatization was started. On the beginning of 2000s, gradual collapse of the long-distance fishery (in 2010 four vessels remained) was observed. In 2004-2010, 501 (38%) of the Polish vessels were ultimately removed from the Baltic fishery, and annual landings decreased by 28%. Keywords: long-distance and Baltic fishery (1920-2010), Poland. Contact author: Włodzimierz Grygiel, the National Marine Fisheries Research Institute (former the Sea Fisheries Institute) in Gdynia (Poland), 1 Kollataja Street, 81-332 Gdynia, tel.: +48 58 7356270, fax: +48 58 7356110, e-mail: [email protected] Introduction When the Republic of Poland regained independence in 1918, it obtained access to the Baltic Sea. At that time, the Polish coast stretched at a distance of merely 140 km (Fig. 1) and the local fishermen, mainly Kashubians, operated only in the Baltic, primarily based on the fishing port in Hel (the Peninsula of Hel; http://hela.com.pl/port.htm) build in 1883. In those days there was no seagoing port within the borders of the country. Poland had the right of access to commercial and fishing port in Gda ńsk, but it was a separate political entity - the Free City of Gda ńsk. Development of the Polish Baltic fishery was initiated after World War I, with logistical and technical support of the government. In 1920, the Polish fishing fleet was operated in the Baltic only and was composed of 55 motor-cutters, 16 sail-cutters and 800 smaller boats, managed by private owners, locally associated in the Kashubian Maszoperia. History, but not a direct activity of the Polish long-distance fishery, began in 1923 when the state authorities decided to build a fishing port in Gdynia, which was intensively modernized in subsequent years (photos 1 & 2). The year 1931, when the first long-distance fishing company named Polish-Dutch Herring Company S.A. "North Sea” was established in Gdynia, can be considered as the beginning of the Polish fishery outside the Baltic (Ropelewski 1963, Krzeptowski 2006). Intensive development of the Polish long-distance fishery, constantly 1 upgraded in technical aspects, but not in terms of economy and administration, was recorded in the first half of the 1960s. According to the earlier, common definition given by Kulikowski (1947, 1960), the term Polish long-distance fishery means fishing in the marine areas beyond the Danish Straits. In more modern legal and political conditions (International Law of the Sea, 1982) it seems the most reasonable to define the long-distance fishery as fishing activities conducted beyond 200 nmi EEZ (Janusz and Draganik 1999). After the Second World War, the geopolitical situation of Poland changed in many aspects - the Polish coast stretched at a distance of 775 km (Fig. 1), and Poland gained three other seagoing ports (Szczecin, Gda ńsk, Świnouj ście). What is important, the political system of the country changed, which led to replacing the free market with a centrally planned and largely controlled economy. In the course of these changes at the turn of 1940s/1950s, the state-owned Baltic fishing and long-distance fishing enterprises, as well as fishing cooperatives were established. After the period of intensive “Cold War” (1946-1956) a mutual competition between Polish long-distance and Baltic fishery was gradually developing. This competition was based on a noble goal of the socialist economy, namely the need to improve the nutritional status of people in various ways, in the name of the national interest. This goal was generally the same as the goal that led to the development of marine fisheries around the world, i.e. facing the increased demand for food production (FAO 1953, Łaszczy ński 1960). The goal of this paper is to present the long-term (1920-2010) changes of the Polish long- distance- and the Baltic Sea fishery structure, considering these changes as an effect of mutual concurrence, influenced by the state’s economical and political systems transformation or by a decree of the fate. Materials Data on the structural changes in the Polish long-distance fishery in the interwar period and after World War II, to the year 2010, presented in this paper relate to the fishing activity that covered basins located outside the Baltic Sea. The characteristic of the commercial fishery of marine organisms (mainly fish) is based on the statistical data originated from the following sources: overall statistics for the Polish catches in the years 1950-2009, according to the FAO statistical areas, contained in the FAO database, was obtained using the software Fishstat Plus ver. 2.3.2000 (Anon. 2011a); overall statistics for the Polish catches in the years 1955-2009 in the North-East Atlantic (Atlantic NE) comes from the ICES database included in the software Fishstat Plus ver. 2.3.2000; data on the Polish long-distance landings in 2010, and fish catches in the Baltic in the recent years was obtained from the Department of Fishery Economics of National Marine Fisheries Research Institute (Gdynia) and the Polish Fisheries Monitoring Centre (FMC, MARD) in Gdynia (unpublished data); data on the Baltic and long-distance fish catches in the pre-war years and the period of 1945- 1949 and 1997-1999 and data on the technical development of the Polish fishing fleet are described based on the materials presented by Netzl (2000), Blady (2002) and Wawrzyniak (2011), Polish and international statistics of the main Baltic species catches in the years 1930-2010 are based on the data of the ICES Secretariat, ICES Working Group - WGBFAS (Anon. 2011b) and the Department of Fishery Economics of NMFRI (Gdynia), Netzl (2000) and Wawrzyniak (2011), the term "fleet capacity" means gross register tonnage (GRT) or gross tonnage (GT) and the vessel's main engine power (in kW), due to the fact that the data on GRT and GT overlap in time, and sometimes relate to the same Polish fishing vessels, in order to illustrate trends, these two slightly different tonnage rates are treated as identical, 2 results of research, presented in Figures 2-13 and 15 and in Table 2, come from the authors' own investigations; the mentioned Table 2 includes the names and abbreviations of statistical fishing areas according to the division used in FAO. Results Developing and structure of the Polish long-distance fishery Analysis of the historical development and structural changes in national long-distance fishery is presented taking into account the periods related to the economic and political transformations in Poland, beginning from 1918, when the Republic of Poland obtained access to the Baltic Sea after regaining independence, through the 1990s, when the long-distance fishery found itself in a deep crisis, up to 2010. The past 90 years of the Polish marine fishery can be divided into several phases. In the period before the World War II following milestones can be distinguished: years 1918-1922 - the long-distance fishery did not exist, and the Baltic fishery was gradually developing (Netzel, 2000); there was no seagoing port within the borders of the country of the time, but Poland had the right of access to commercial and fishing port in the Free City of Gda ńsk, 23.09.1922, when the Polish Parliament passed a law on the construction of the port "at Gdynia," which was extensively modernized in subsequent years (photos 1 & 2) - this fact enabled a gradual development of maritime trade and fishery outside the Danish Straits - at that time recognized as the border between the Baltic and long-distance fishery (Kulikowski 1947, 1960, Janusz and Draganik 1999), 22.05.1931 - the beginning of activity of the Polish fishery outside the Baltic based on the first long-distance fishing company named the Polish-Dutch