Total marine fisheries extractions by country in the Baltic Sea

Catch (t)
Catch (t)
240 Total marine fisheries extractions by country in the Baltic Sea: 1950-present, Rossing, Booth and Zeller
ICES landings statistics for sea trout and ‗trout
nei‘ combined were erratic over time and data
were missing for most of the 1960s (Figure 7a).
ICES landings statistics peaked in 1993 at 170 t,
and thereafter declined to around 40 t∙year -1
from 2000-2007 (Figure 7a).
Due to missing data ICES landings statistics
were replaced for the entire period, except in
1978, by Swedish national landings data (Figure
7a). Overall, the Swedish national data were 20%
larger than ICES landings statistics.
The estimated unreported sea trout landings
were low and never exceeded 21 t∙year -1 during
the entire period (Figure 7b). The estimated
discards were also relatively low and peaked
during the 1990s when it ranged between about
20 and 60 t∙year -1 (Figure 7b).
200
150
100
50
0
9001950 b) 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Discards
600
300
a)
Adjustments
ICES landings
+ adjustments
ICES landings statistics
Recreational
Unreported
The estimated total recreational sea trout
catches were more than 8 times larger than ICES
landings statistics suggested for 1950-2007
(Figure 7b; Appendix Table A7). Estimated
recreational catches increased from around 130 t
in 1950 to a peak of about 730 t in 1975, before
declining during the 1980s (Figure 7b). In the
most recent years, recreational catches declined
to around 230 t by 2007.
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
Figure 7. Swedish sea trout landings in the Baltic Sea: a) ICES
landings statistics and adjustments; b) Sweden‘s reconstructed
sea trout catches in the Baltic Sea.
Due to the substantial recreational catches of sea
trout, the total estimated reconstructed catches
were about 10 times larger than ICES landings
statistics from 1950-2007, and almost 12 times
larger for the most recent 2003-2007 period
(Figure 7).
Eel
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
a)
ICES landings statistics for eel declined from, on
average, 1,900 t∙year -1 in the 1950s to an average
of 310 t∙year -1 in the 2000s (Figure 8a, Appendix
Table A8). After the introduction of regulation of
fishing for eel in 2007, the reported landings rose
to 416 t in 2007 (Figure 8a). No adjustments
were done to ICES landings statistics for eel.
Unreported landings of eel have decreased since
the 1950s, from 110 t∙year -1 to around 60 t∙year -1
during the 2000s. However, relative to ICES
landings statistics, the annual estimated
unreported eel landings increased from around
6% during the 1950s, to 18% during the 2000s
(Figure 8b, Appendix Table A8).
In the last five years, discards were 17% of ICES
landings statistics (Figure 8b), and about 42 % of
these discards were due to seal damage. For
example in 2004, the estimated discards were
about 40 t, of which around 18 t were discarded
500
0
3,5001950 b) 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Recreational
3,000
Discards
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
ICES landings statistics
Unreported
ICES landings statistics + adjustments
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
Figure 8. Swedish eel landings in the Baltic Sea 1950-2007: a)
ICES landings statistics; b) Sweden‘s reconstructed eel catches in
the Baltic Sea.