Fisheries and aquaculture in Latvia
Domestic fish production in Latvia comes from diverse sources including marine and freshwater capture fisheries as well as freshwater aquaculture. Marine fisheries can be further subdivided into the high seas fishery, the Baltic Sea offshore fishery including the Gulf of Riga, and the coastal fishery.
This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 5 2024
According to a Ministry of Agriculture report[1] on the Latvian fishing fleet, the high seas fleet comprises seven vessels over 40 m in length that fish mainly with midwater and bottom otter trawls as well as shrimp trawls. They are active in areas governed by the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) and by the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF), where they target Atlantic cod and northern shrimp in the former and Atlantic horse mackerel and mackerel in the latter.
The Baltic Sea offshore fleet accounts for the main catch volume
Catches by the high seas fleet have remained fairly stable over the five years to 2023 both in absolute number at around 42 thousand tonnes and in ratio to the total catch at about 40%. Vessels fishing offshore in the Baltic Sea (including the Gulf of Riga) range in length from 12 to 40 m and amounted to 42 in number in 2023. The main gear used is the midwater otter trawl with which is used to target sprat and herring. These are the two most important species in terms of volume for the Latvian fishing fleet accounting for between 55% and 60% of the total catch in the five years to 2023. Vessels in the length categories 12–18 m and 24–40 m catch the entire quota of sprat and herring. The herring quota is split with a quarter going to vessels in the former category and the remainder to the larger vessels, while virtually the entire sprat quota is caught by vessels in the 24–40 m bracket.
Unlike fleets in some other EU countries that target small pelagics for the fishmeal and fish oil industry, Latvian vessels catching herring and sprat do it largely for human consumption, says Normunds Riekstins, director of the Department of Fisheries. This means that the vessels are not as large or as powerful as those engaged in industrial fishing. Speeds are lower and there is a focus on quality with schools targeted that have the appropriate age and size category. Fishermen further seek to add value to the production, both by pre-processing fish and by preparing a product ready for human consumption, so their fishing practices are sensitive. These products are also exported. Ukraine is the most important market as there is a tradition for consuming small pelagics, a relatively inexpensive source of healthful nourishment.
Catches are small but the coastal fleet has socioeconomic significance
Finally, coastal fishing vessels are the smallest (up to 12 m in length) and the most numerous (613 in 2023) in the fleet. However, in 2023 only a quarter of these vessels were regularly used to fish commercially, the remainder were used only sporadically either to fish for self-consumption or as support vessels. Catches by this segment, which is active up to a depth of 20 meters, accounted for less than 3% (2,500 t) of the total Latvian catch in 2023, but the coastal fishery is an important source of economic activity in remote coastal areas. Coastal fishers use passive gears such as fyke nets, gill nets, and hooks and they target several species including Baltic herring, round goby, flounder, smelt, as well as vimba, bream, garfish, and perch.
There are some 150 commercial fishers engaged in coastal fishing in Latvia and they work along the 500 km Baltic Sea coastline. Most of them are organised into associations that stand for the interests of the sector, including environmentally responsible fishing, but that also work to create awareness about the coastal fishery among the public. The aim is to attract new blood to the sector by demonstrating that coastal fishing is an attractive multifaceted profession that involves fishing but also other income-generating activities such as services for tourists. Coastal catches are used exclusively for human consumption and fishers often have their own small processing facilities where they add value and process the fish they catch, gutting, cleaning, and even filleting, for sale in local bars and restaurants. A coastal fishers’ producer organisation has been established that seeks to improve the working lives of its members, for example by helping them explore and develop new markets for their production, as well as by carrying out educational and informative activities . Association representatives are actively involved in discussions about catch limits and distribution of limits on fishing gears. Here there is some scope for flexibility as the local municipalities that manage the gear allocations laid down by the national rules can additionally offer gears for a subsistence fishery. Subsistence catches may not be sold, they are intended for the fisher’s personal use, but this is a way of introducing a younger generation to the fishery. Limits on regulated species for the coastal fishery are set at up to 6% of the national quotas depending on the species and the stock (herring in the Gulf of Riga is the exception where coastal fishers have 15% of the national quota) and there are no plans to increase this ratio, says Mr Riekstins, as coastal fishers are already catching what they can when the different species approach coastal areas seasonally. As far as he recalls the fishery reached its limits only once and that was with the Gulf of Riga herring. But they are free to catch also other unregulated species (outside of any closed seasons) within the limits imposed by the number of gears they are allowed.
Coastal fishers adapt to impacts of climate and environment changes
it is important to keep the objectives of coastal environmental sustainability and biodiversity in balance with the sustainable development of coastal communities. For example, the increase in the seal population on the coast of Latvia has a negative impact on both fish resources and coastal fisheries. These animals have multiplied across the Baltic and are a menace for coastal fishers, who sometimes decide it is not worth putting their gear out at all due to the presence of these marine mammals. The administration is aware of the issue and provides some compensation to fishers who lose their catch or their gear to seals. Moreover, after years of negotiations and based on a scientific assessment the sector has recently been given permission to cull a small number of seals. The coastal fishery has also shown an ability to adapt to the some of the consequences of global warming, for instance, the prevalence of the invasive round goby in the fishers’ catches. This species has become one of the largest in the Latvian coastal catch (after herring, flounder and smelt) and coastal fishers have created a domestic market for smoked round goby and are also exporting it. Some coastal fishers are also interested in introducing a practice seen in neighbouring countries, whereby they get compensation for clearing ghost nets and dead seals from the sea. This is beneficial for the environment and could be an additional, if minor, income source for the fishers.
The EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 includes an action plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems. The measures envisaged in the plan include increasing marine protected areas in EU seas to 30% (12% in 2021) and strictly protected areas to 10% (currently 1%). In Latvia, the coastal fishery provides livelihoods and attracts tourists to coastal communities thus contributing to the local economy. The administration at all levels is therefore keen to preserve the sector. But environmental issues in the Baltic Sea and now the implementation of the action plan are likely to have an impact on this fishery. Mr Riekstins points out that any features in Latvian waters that merit protection tend to be in coastal waters and restricting access to these will have consequences for coastal fishermen. However, since they generally fish with passive gears they may be able to continue fishing even in protected areas, though probably not in strictly protected areas which is a matter of great concern. Coastal areas are being evaluated to identify where protection measures can be applied with the least disruption to the coastal fishery. This is an environmentally friendly element of the Blue Economy, therefore its economic sustainability must be ensured.
Barriers on Latvian rivers are coming down
Latvia has been contributing to biodiversity by using the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund to improve fish habitats. One way to do this is by removing barriers across rivers that prevent fish from migrating up- and downstream. In a project managed by BIOR, the national institute for food safety, animal health, and environment, a database of all barriers large and small was created. Information about barriers was supplied by experts, but also by civil society groups such as anglers. Researchers at BIOR analysed the data and produced a list of barriers, the removal of which would give the maximum benefit to fish stocks. This subset was further prioritised into three groups. In addition, the potential solutions, for example, demolishing or building a fish pass, were also prioritised. The cheapest solution was to demolish a barrier however this was not always feasible if the dam was producing hydroelectricity or if it provided a village with a space to swim or for people to go fishing. Removing a barrier was easiest when there was local support and so a lot of outreach work is done to convince people of the benefits of getting rid of it. Currently one dam removal project is ongoing, and more are in the offing as funding is still available. Over the past three years there have also been some 35 projects on rivers and lakes where national funds have been used to improve waterbodies by clearing vegetation, restocking with fish, and re-establishing spawning grounds. Projects, whether they are funded nationally or from EU money, are monitored by BIOR during and after the implementation to learn how to improve design and execution and to assess the benefits to fish stocks.
Uncertainty in fishing sector reduces interest in energy transition
The fishing industry is among the lowest emitters of carbon dioxide of all economic sectors in Latvia with a level of 0.013 megatonnes in 2021 according to the International Energy Agency. Reducing this further will depend on technological developments and on improvements in circumstances surrounding the fleet. The fall in fish quotas over the years and the uncertainty regarding the reasons behind the status of key stocks in the Baltic are not conducive to making major investments in the fleet, feels Mr Riekstins. The European Commission’s proposal for the total allowable catch in the Baltic Sea in 2025 reflects the decline in stocks with cuts in six out of ten stocks (and increases in two). Furthermore, there are likely to be practical problems in switching from fossil fuels as new sources of energy would probably call for more space on board the vessel which may not be feasible. Even if this could be overcome the fleet might run into capacity ceilings. He thinks the best way forward would be to have a pilot project based on a vessel fishing in the Baltic which could demonstrate the issues that need to be tackled when a vessel switches to a carbon neutral energy source. Latvia has EU funding support in place ready to offer also to energy transition projects, but there have been no takers from the fishing sector so far.
Dissatisfaction with some provisions of the revised control regulation
With the entry into force at the start of 2024 of the revised EU control regulation fishers will be expected to submit all data on their fishing activities electronically irrespective of the size of the vessel. Latvia contributed actively to the provisions in the revised regulation over the five years that it took to hammer them out. But the country did not agree with some of the measures that would have affected the pelagic fleet and finally voted against the proposal. At stake was the margin of tolerance which specifies how much a fisher’s declaration regarding the volume of each of the species they have caught deviates from the actual landed and weighed volume. When a fisher catches tonnes of herring or sprat it is not possible for them to quantify the small volumes of any other species that may also be caught as by-catch, Mr Riekstins says. Currently the margin of tolerance is 10% per species with a derogation if the fish is landed at a registered port. But a port only qualifies to be registered if it fulfils certain requirements including remote electronic monitoring with CCTV, weighing infrastructure, and sampling chutes, says the European Commission. The department of fisheries is seeking further clarification from the Commission services regarding precisely what, where, and how ports need to be equipped to qualify, so that it can develop the necessary projects to apply for support. The way things are now we feel the fishers are placed at a disadvantage because higher percentage difference in margin counts as a serious infringement, says Mr Riekstins, who finds the rules not practically implementable. Not only are the fishers dissatisfied, but also the control institutions, which makes it difficult to bring them on board when implementing the rules. Despite these reservations he feels the revised control regulation has resulted in several improvements, such as the gradual switch to electronic registration of the catch for all segments and all vessel sizes, and the traceability from catch to the end of the value chain.
Recirculation systems increase in number and size
Another source of fish in Latvia is the aquaculture sector which comprises a mix of ponds growing carp and related species in polyculture, pools, and recirculation systems for the growth of high value species. While the area of ponds has remained stable since 2012, the volume of pools has declined 17% to 14,777 m3 in 2023. In contrast, the number of recirculation systems increased by a factor of 3 to 79 in 2023 with the volume of water going up 5 times, suggesting an increase not only in the number but also the size of these systems. Since 2012 the number of economically active companies has varied from 66 to 88. While total production has fluctuated it has shown a slightly increasing trend since 2012 reaching 784 tonnes in 2023. The volume of fish and crustaceans grown in recirculation has increased spectacularly since 2019 but from a very low base. In 2023 this volume reached 125 tonnes up from 10 tonnes in 2019. Common carp dominates aquaculture production accounting for around 70% of the total in the five years to 2023, while catfish, sturgeon, and trout are the next most produced species with a combined production of around 100 tonnes. Pond farms apart from the fish they produce are sources of ecosystem services as birds and animals are attracted to the ponds and the surrounding vegetation. Farmers get some compensation for providing these services, says Mr Riekstins, but the amounts are modest and relate to some 30 companies covering 3,500 ha. The idea is to encourage farmers to produce extensively as this is more sustainable. Farmers must also contend with losses from predation by cormorants and other fish-eating birds and animals—otters are a major threat. These direct losses from predators are to some extent compensated. Pond aquaculture is unlikely to expand meaningfully in Latvia—any possible growth in the sector is likely to come from recirculation systems if the economics are favourable. However, much depends on the market possibilities as the domestic market is small and producers must compete with imported fish products. At the same time exporting is not easy, especially when the volumes offered are small and the production costs are quite high.
Angling is popular and is encouraged by the government
Some fish farmers produce large fish for angling either selling them to companies offering angling facilities or creating angling ponds themselves and stocking them. This income diversification could potentially also include birdwatching tours and hospitality services for tourists. But angling has shown the most promise so far with recreational fishers coming to fish and then using infrastructure created by the farmer to cook the catch and perhaps also spend the night. Angling is popular in Latvia where there are an estimated 100,000 anglers (over 5% of the population). Sustainable angling is promoted by the agency responsible for distributing angling cards which also organises family-friendly events to encourage both adults and children to take up the discipline. The angling fraternity is divided into different groups, for example, those that target predatory species, and the government supports this interest by providing financial support from the national fish fund for stocking public water bodies with juveniles of these fish species. Sport fishing enthusiasts also receive support from the fund when they participate in international fishing competitions (world championships), and societies or associations are also eligible if they organise schools or training courses for young anglers and invite lecturers or scientists to instruct the pupils. Creating a new generation of people interested in fish, fishing, and fish farming will not only benefit the sector but also society more widely and is a worthwhile investment by any measure.
[1] The Annual Report on the Latvian Fishing Fleet 2023, Ministry of Agriculture, Latvia