Total marine fisheries extractions by country in the Baltic Sea

Catch (t)
152 Total marine fisheries extractions by country in the Baltic Sea: 1950-present, Rossing, Booth and Zeller
The largest contributor to overall discards was cod, with an estimated total of 35,400 t from 1950-2007,
which is an average discard rate of 5.8%. Cod discards were estimated to be 434 t in 1950, and fluctuated
below 1,000 t until 1995 (average cod discards for the period 1950-1994, were 477 t·year -1 ).
Cod discards were estimated to have risen to
1,488 t in 2000, and from 1995-2007, average
cod discards were estimated at 1,072 t·year -1 .
The next largest contributors to discards were
sprat and herring, with totals of 12,705 t and
11,306 t respectively, over the entire time
series. Herring and sprat discards rates
averaged approximately 5%.
Table 7. Decadal totals of the estimated discards for
Lithuania (t).
Common
name
1950-
1959
1960-
1969
1970-
1979
1980-
1989
1990-
1999
2000-
2007
Cod 4,681 4,883 3,962 6,685 6,993 8,184
Herring 663 1,213 3,033 2,924 2,688 785
Sprat 241 1,664 3,464 1,506 2,688 3,146
Flatfishes 52 113 102 51 2,027 3,686
Salmon 0 0 0 17 20 6
Others 734 136 429 734 93 266
Sprat discards were estimated at 3 t in 1953,
and increased to an average annual discard rate
of 232 t·year -1 (with a peak value of 1,098 t in 2007). Herring discards were estimated at 9 t in 1950, and
averaged 196 t annually throughout the time series (with a peak of 454 t in 1995).
Flatfish discards contributed the next largest
amount to the total, with an estimated 6,030 t
over the time series. The discard rate for flatfish
is the highest out of all the species categories,
with an average discard rate of 29%. Flatfish
discards were estimated to have been 5 t in 1950
and averaged approximately 8 t annually from
1950-1990. For 1991-2007, average annual
flatfish discards rose to an estimated 339 t
(range from 26 t in 1991, to 667 t in 2001).
‗Others‘ discards were an estimated 2,395 t over
the time period, with an average discard rate of
4%. Salmon discards are estimated to have
totaled 43 t over the time period, with an average
discard rate of 6%.
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
Herring
Flatfish
Cod
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
Figure 5. Lithuania‘s recreational catches by taxa from
1950-2007.
Recreational catches
It is assumed that there were no recreational catches in Lithuania
prior to 1991. In 1991, the total recreational catch was
approximately 42 t (Figure 5; Table 8), then increased to 633 t in
2005 and remained stable at this value for the rest of the time
period. The total recreational catch for the time period was
estimated to be 6,326 t. Cod was the most important species
targeted in the recreational fishery, and contributed 5,756 t, or 91%
of the recreational catch total. The species with the next largest
recreational catch was herring, with a total of 447 t, followed by
flatfish with a catch of 123 t for the time period.
Table 8. Decadal totals of the
estimated recreational catch for
Lithuania (t).
Common
name
1950-
1989
1990-
1999
2000-
2007
Cod 0 1,727 4,029
Herring 0 134 313
Flatfishes 0 37 86
Salmon 0 0 0
Others 0 0 0
Total Reconstructed Catches
The total reconstructed catch was estimated to be 14,016 t in 1950, and showed an increasing trend to a
peak of 40,383 t in 1979. Following this there was a decreasing trend to 9,896 t in 1993, a large peak of
31,021 t in 1996, and another increase at the end of the time period to 33,911 t in 2007. Total reconstructed
catches from 1950-2007 were estimated to be 1,243,301 t (Figure 6; Table 9; see Appendix Table A1 for
complete time series data on all additions to catch by taxonomic group). ICES landing statistics report
206,850 t of catches from 1992-2007. Our total reconstructed catch for the same time period is 306,287 t,
an increase of 48%. In all of the components of the adjustments for this reconstruction, cod catches
contributed the most, followed by sprat and herring.