Countries

Lina Kujalyte, Vice Minister in the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture has been responsible for aspects of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy that are only now being implemented, for example, the landing obligation, which in the Baltic Sea came into force at the start of the year. Lithuania also held the chair of BALTFISH, an organisation that brings stakeholders from EU countries around the Baltic Sea together to work out common positions on policies concerning the Baltic. Ms Kujalyte is also a strong proponent of aquaculture, a sector which will receive the largest chunk of funding from Lithuania’s allocation from the EMFF. Here she discusses some of her priorities for the fisheries sector in the country.

The Lithuanian fisheries sector has a long historical traditions and is a part of the national heritage in the Baltic Sea coast area. The segment comprises a high seas fleet, a Baltic Sea fleet, and a coastal fleet. There is also a small freshwater fishery in the Curonian lagoon. The aquaculture industry in Lithuania is dynamic and the production of farmed fish has been increasing in terms of both value and volume.

Fisheries plays an important role in the economies of coastal regions throughout Europe. It is therefore vital to exploit the oceans’ aquatic resources sustainably to avoid the depletion of fish stocks, a rusting fishing fleet, unemployed fishermen and seafood shortages.

The fish processing sector in Lithuania is based mainly on imported raw materials which are converted into a variety of products both for domestic consumption and for export. Some companies are also using locally-caught and locally-farmed fish to add variety to the range of products they manufacture.

Lithuanian aquaculture production is predominantly common carp, which amounts to about nine tenths of the output. The remainder comprises a number of species including rainbow trout, other carp varieties, sturgeon, eel, and catfish that are grown in different production systems. Further down the value chain sales of live fish are being replaced with more value-added products in response to changes in consumer demand.

Lithuania’s high seas fishing fleet comprises some 12 vessels, a number which has stayed fairly stable the last few years, but which can also fluctuate depending on fishing opportunities. The fleet has been active in the Northwest and the North East Atlantic, the South Pacific, the EU Western Waters, as well as in the Svalbard fishing area, and the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Morocco, and Greenland.

Finland, a country of some 5.5m people, has a per capita consumption of 14.6 kg well below the EU average of 22-23 kg. Domestic production of fish is modest – capture fisheries amounted to some 138,000 tonnes in 2013 and farmed fish to about 14,000 tonnes.

Lithuania’s inland waters are home to a number of species of which several are of commercial importance. The most important inland fishery takes place on the Curonian Lagoon, a water body separated from the Baltic sea by the Curonian Spit, but several lakes and rivers also have an inland fishery.

The fisheries and aquaculture sector in Norway is an important and growing part of the country’s economy. Highly diversified in terms of types of production, species, products, and above all, markets, yet the sector still has the potential to increase its contribution to the economy several-fold. Steering this development is Elisabeth Aspaker, Minister of Fisheries, who outlines here some of the ways in which this growth will be realised.

The Norwegian seafood sector had another dream year, the second in a row, in terms of its export performance in 2014. Overall, the country’s seafood exports at NOK68.8bn (≈EUR8.2bn) represented a 12% increase over 2013 and this despite the sudden closure (for political reasons) of their biggest market, Russia, in August last year.