Total marine fisheries extractions by country in the Baltic Sea

Catch ( t x 10 4 )
Total marine fisheries extractions by country in the Baltic Sea: 1950-present, Rossing, Booth and Zeller 21
Recreational catches
Estimates of recreational catches for all
countries fishing in the Baltic Sea LME
between 1950 and 2007 totaled
approximately 1.5 million t. Recreational
catches increased steadily from
approximately 9,500 t∙year -1 in 1950 to
approximately 31,000 t∙year -1 in the early
1990s, before rising to an all-time peak
of 47,000 t∙year -1 in 1993 (Figure 5).
More recently, recreational catches
appear to have declined to approximately
29,000 t∙year -1 in 2007 (Figure 5).
Recreational catches increased steadily
for cod, herring, salmon and flatfishes
between 1950 and 1990, while
recreational catches of ‗others‘ increased
more rapidly (Figure 5). Recreational catches of most species peaked in the 1990s with a total of
approximately 398,000 t, or an average of about 40,000 t∙year -1 for all species considered (Table 17).
Recreational catches of ‗others‘
(including species such as European
perch, Northern pike, whitefishes, sea
trout and garfish) dominated for the
entire period considered, totaling over
800,000 t and representing 54% of the
total recreational catch in the Baltic Sea
LME betweeen 1950 and 2007 (Figure 5;
Table 17). Recreational catches of cod
(the second most prevalent recreational
species) totaled about 350,000 t for the
same time period, and accounted for
about 23% of the total recreational catch
estimated for the Baltic Sea (1950-2007; Table 17). Recreational
catches of herring and flatfishes represented approximately 15% and
8%, respectively. Recreational catches of sprat and salmon were fairly
insignificant relative to the total recreational catch (Table 17).
Recreational catches in Sweden and Finland accounted for the
majority of the total estimated recreational catches in the Baltic Sea
for the period from 1950 to 2007 (Table 18). These countries
combined, represented more than 70% of all recreational catches
estimated here (Table 18). The only other countries with significant
recreational catches relative to other Baltic countries were Denmark
and Germany, whose recreational catches accounted for about 21%
and 5%, respectively, of all recreational catches. Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland and Russia all had fairly minor recreational catches
when compared to the other countries. The countries accounting for
minor proportions of the total recreational catch were all members of
the former eastern bloc, re-emphasizing the recent development of
recreational fishing in these countries. For country-specific info on
recreational catches, see individual country reports (this volume).
5.0
4.5
4.0
Salmon
3.5
Flatfish
3.0
Herring
2.5
Others
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
Cod
0.0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
Figure 5. Total recreational catches for cod, herring, flatfishes,
salmon and ‗others‘ in the Baltic Sea Large Marine Ecosystem for
the period 1950-2007. Recreational catches of sprat not shown
due to low overall tonnage.
Table 17. Estimated total recreational catches (t) for the period from
1950 to 2007, taken from the Baltic Sea.
Common
name
1950-
1959
1960-
1969
1970-
1979
1980-
1989
1990-
1999
2000-
2007
Cod 33,686 41,287 52,840 72,392 83,165 67,648
Herring 15,748 35,186 34,835 43,943 59,393 32,511
Sprat 134 392 478 437 35 345
Flatfishes 8,011 11,119 15,905 24,799 37,085 15,486
Salmons 509 1,250 1,759 2,733 3,939 2,630
'Others' 58,473 108,946 153,834 159,609 212,779 113,973
Table 18. Estimated total
recreational catches (t) and the
proportion (%) of recreational catches
attributed to each of the 9 coastal
Baltic countries examined in our
reconstruction of fisheries catches
from the Baltic Sea Large Marine
Ecosystem between 1950 and 2007.
Country
Recreational
catch (t)
(%)
Sweden 626,822 41.6
Finland 456,679 30.3
Denmark 321,581 21.3
Germany 70,740 4.7
Russia 14,824 1.0
Lithuania 6,326 0.4
Poland 4,512 0.3
Estonia 3,421 0.2
Latvia 2,386 0.2
Total catch reconstruction
Overall, our reconstructed catch for all 9 coastal countries fishing in the Baltic Sea LME totaled over 53.5
million t for the period 1950-2007 (Figure 6). This estimate includes landings previously reported to ICES