Fisheries in Poland
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DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIESB POLICY DEPARTMENT AgricultureAgriculture and Rural and Development Rural Development STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES B CultureCulture and Education and Education Role The Policy Departments are research units that provide specialised advice Fisheries to committees, inter-parliamentary delegations and other parliamentary bodies. Fisheries RegionalRegional Development Development Policy Areas TransportTransport and andTourism Tourism Agriculture and Rural Development Culture and Education Fisheries Regional Development Transport and Tourism Documents Visit the European Parliament website: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies PHOTO CREDIT: iStock International Inc., Photodisk, Phovoir DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES OF THE UNION POLICY DEPARTMENT B: STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES FISHERIES FISHERIES IN POLAND NOTE This document was requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries. AUTHOR Jesús Iborra Martín Policy Department on Structural and Cohesion Policies European Parliament E-mail: [email protected] EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Virginija Kelmelyté LANGUAGE VERSIONS Original: ES. Translations: DE, EN, FR, IT, PL, PT. ABOUT THE EDITOR To contact the Policy Department or to subscribe to its monthly newsletter, please write to: [email protected] Manuscript completed in April 2011. Brussels, © European Parliament, 2011 This document is available on the Internet at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES OF THE UNION POLICY DEPARTMENT B: STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES FISHERIES FISHERIES IN POLAND NOTE Content: Information note on the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Poland for the Delegation of the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries from 16 May 2011 to 20 May 2011. The note describes the Baltic Sea, fisheries in Poland and related activities. IP/B/PECH/NT/2011_02 April 2011 PE 460.037 EN Fisheries in Poland CONTENTS INDEX OF TABLES 4 INDEX OF GRAPHS 5 INDEX OF MAPS 6 1. INTRODUCTION 7 2. GEOGRAPHICAL FRAMEWORK 11 2.1. Political and administrative structure 11 2.2. Physical environment 12 2.3. The Baltic Sea 13 3. ECONOMIC ROLE OF FISHERIES 19 4. PRODUCTION 21 4.1. Maritime Fisheries 21 4.2. Inland fisheries and aquaculture 25 5. CHANGE IN THE FISHERIES SECTOR 27 6. FISHING FLEET 31 6.1. Structure of the Polish fleet 31 6.2. Fishing gear 36 6.3. Structural adjustment of the Polish fishing fleet 36 6.4. Regional distribution of the fishing fleet 40 7. PORTS 43 8. THE PROCESSING INDUSTRY 45 9. MARKETING AND CONSUMPTION 47 10. EUROPEAN FISHERIES FUND 51 11. INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS IN THE BALTIC 53 11.1 IBSFC 53 11.2. HELSINKI COMMISSION 53 11.3. BALTIC 21 (Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea Region) 55 12. RESEARCH 57 3 Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies INDEX OF TABLES Table 1: Regions of Poland 12 Table 2: Licences for cod fishing 24 Table 3: Change in the Polish fishing fleet (as at 31 Dec each year) 31 Table 4: Comparison of the Polish and EU-27 fishing fleets 32 Table 5: Polish fleet. January 2009 32 Table 6: Polish fishing fleet as a proportion of the EU-27 fleet by vessel length 35 Table 7: Fishing gear in the Polish fleet 36 Table 8: Regional distribution of the Polish fishing fleet (December 2010) 40 Table 9: Main ports of fleet registration 44 Table 10: Operational Programme 2007-2013 51 4 Fisheries in Poland INDEX OF GRAPHS Graph 1: Comparison of primary productivity in the Baltic and North Seas 16 Graph 2: Employment in Poland 19 Graph 3: Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for Poland in the Baltic Sea 22 Graph 4: Catches by the Polish fleet 27 Graph 5: Change in the Polish high-seas fleet 34 Graph 6: Change in the Polish fishing fleet 2004 = 100 37 Graph 7: Polish fleet. Percentage of the ceiling under the entry/exit regime 38 Graph 8: Polish fleet as a proportion of the EU-25 fleet 39 Graph 9: Comparison of the principal parameters of the Polish and EU-25 fleets 39 Graph 10: Production of processed fishery products 46 Graph 11: Poland's external trade in fishery products 49 Graph 12: Average prices of imports and exports of fishery products 50 5 Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies INDEX OF MAPS Map 1: Topography of Poland 13 Map 2: Baltic Sea 14 Map 3: Depth of the Baltic and the flow of salt water 15 Map 4: Regional distribution of the Polish fishing fleet 41 Map 5: Principal fishing ports in Poland 43 6 Fisheries in Poland 1. INTRODUCTION The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed sea of brackish water which is open to the North Sea through the Kattegat and Skagerrak Straits. Its shallowness and small link to the ocean mean that the exchange of waters is very slow and conducive to pollution. The salinity of the Baltic is very low, productivity is very high, and eutrophication is an ongoing problem. Despite its relatively low contribution to the Polish economy, fishing plays an important role in the economy and society of coastal areas and is a very important industry in three regions (Pomerania, Western Pomerania and Varmia-Masuria), especially in the area of Kashubia. Catches have plummeted since 1988 (628 026 t) to 179 309 t in 2008. Almost 90% of catches in the Northeast Atlantic are from the Baltic, with the remainder from the Atlantic Ocean. Catches are chiefly of sprat. Secondary species are herring, cod and sole and flat fish. There are also catches of krill in the Antarctic, but they are in continual decline compared to the levels of the second half of the 1990s. Over the last 20 years the Polish fishing fleet has undergone intense structural adjustment. In the wake of the crisis caused by restrictions on access to fishing grounds, the Polish fleet suffered in the fall-out from the process of the country’s economic transformation. Moreover, prior to accession to the European Union, further fleet reduction was implemented. The problems were, however, far from being resolved, as was illustrated by the issues arising from the overshoot of the cod quota in 2007. That situation, which stemmed from a lack of profitability among some segments of the fleet, paved the way for a number of national action programmes in which fleet management had a key role. The Portuguese fishing fleet comprises mainly small, ageing vessels. In December 2010 there were 794 vessels in the Polish fishing fleet. Of these, 598 (75% of the fleet) were less than 12 m in length. More than half the fleet is obsolete in technical terms and has difficulty making a profit against a background of scarce resources and expensive fuel. Only 1% of vessels in the EU-27 fishing fleet are registered in Poland, and the Polish fleet accounts only for 6% of the tonnage in gross tonnes and 6% of total power. The Polish fishing fleet is generally regarded as being divided into three main sectors: coastal fishing, the activity conducted by 643 vessels between 3 m and 16 m in length within the limits of territorial waters in the Vistula and Szczecin lagoons; the 161 vessels between 16 m and 32 m long inclusive, which fish in the Baltic and to a lesser extent in the Northeast Atlantic; and high-seas fishing conducted in distant fishing-grounds on the high seas by four vessels longer than 32 m. The most used types of main gear are set or anchored gillnets (62% of vessels), pots (15%) and bottom trawls (14%). Gillnets and pots are typical of small-scale coastal fishing, whereas bottom trawls are used more by the fleet of medium-sized vessels fishing in the Baltic. Although only 4% of vessels use pelagic trawls, they account for 63% of total tonnage and 29% of power. 7 Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies The larger vessels are registered at the ports in the region of Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot. Although only 6% of all vessels in the Polish fleet are registered there, they account for 60% of the fleet’s total tonnage and 26% of total power. At the other end of the scale are the regions of Elblaski and Szczecinski. The combined figures for these two regions show that 28% of all vessels in the Polish fleet are registered there, yet they account for only 5% of total tonnage and 13% of power. These two regions are the location of the bulk of the segment of the fleet involved in small-scale coastal fishing in the Szczecin and Masuria lagoons and have few or no vessels in the Baltic fleet. The segment of the fleet which could be regarded as most representative of the Baltic fishery is, however, based at the ports of Gdańsk, Slupski and Koszalinski. Some 66% of all vessels in the Polish fleet operate from these three regions, accounting for 35% of total tonnage and 61% of power. There are 59 landing points on the Polish Baltic Sea coast, including fishing ports and other places regarded as fishing ports. The three main fishing ports are Władysławowo, Kołobrzeg and Hel, where 75% of all landings are made. Approximately half the landing points are on beaches and have few facilities. There are ten larger fishing ports for larger vessels, especially those longer than 16 m. • On the west coast: Świnoujście, Dziwnów; • On the central coast: Kołobrzeg, Darłowo, Ustka, Leba; • On the east coast: Władysławowo, Jastarnia, Hel, Gdynia.