Total marine fisheries extractions by country in the Baltic Sea

Total marine fisheries extractions by country in the Baltic Sea: 1950-present, Rossing, Booth and Zeller 23
1990s, accounting for about 40% of the total reconstructed catch of all taxa between 1950 and 2007. Over
the last 7 years, however, sprat catches have been larger than herring (Table 19). On a decade by decade
basis, cod was consistently significant, but had not exceded herring catches since the 1960s (Table 19). The
total reconstructed catches of flatfishes, salmon and ‗others‘ each represented less than 10% of the total
reconstructed catch for all species (Table 19).
Of the 9 coastal countries examined in detail Denmark, Poland
and Sweden‘s total reconstructed catches each accounted for 17-
18% of the total reconstructed catch (1950-2007), while Finland
and Germany each accounted for approximately 11% of the
overall catch, and Russia and the Baltic States each accounted
for less than 10% of the overall catch (1950-2007; Table 20).
DISCUSSION
Our reconstruction of total fisheries catches from the Baltic Sea
Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) combined reported landings
from ICES ‗landings statistics‘ with adjustments to landings,
unreported landings, discards, and recreational catches which
totaled approximately 53.5 million tonnes for the period 1950-
2007. The total catch peaked in 1997 at 1.5 million t∙year -1 and
declined to a total of approximately 1.1 million t∙year -1 between
2005 and 2007. This contrasts with landings of approx. 41
million t reported by the 9 coastal Baltic Sea countries over the
Table 20. Estimated total reconstructed
catches (in tonnes) and the proportion (%)
represented by each of 9 coastal countries
considered in our reconstruction of fisheries
catches from the Baltic Sea large marine
ecosystem between 1950 and 2007.
Country
Total reconstructed
catch (t)
(%)
Denmark 9,569,881 17.9
Poland 9,546,402 17.8
Sweden 8,879,513 16.6
Finland 5,781,000 10.8
Germany 5,758,267 10.8
Latvia 4,754,544 8.9
Estonia 4,206,072 7.9
Russia 3,739,224 7.0
Lithuania 1,243,301 2.3
entire time period. The difference of approximately 12.3 million tonnes represents an increase of
approximately 30% between landings officially reported to ICES and our total catch reconstruction (1950-
2007). For the most recent period (2000-2007), the difference between reported ICES landings and total
reconstructed catch was 35%. This difference is accounted for by our estimates of IUU catches for the
Baltic Sea, which highlights the magnitude of fishing mortalities that are unaccounted for by records
provided by countries to ICES. We believe our reconstruction not to be an overestimate, as our derivations
used minimum values which were based on conservative assumptions. Therefore, our total catch
reconstruction for the Baltic Sea LME represents the best currently available estimate of the total fisheries
catches taken from the Baltic Sea between 1950 and 2007, and provides an improved baseline for
management of fisheries resources, as well as the Baltic ecosystem as a whole. The ICES landings statistics
provide only reported landings, and the ICES database presents these landings as ‗catch totals‘, meaning
there is an underlying perception of equality between ‗landings‘ and ‗catches‘, clearly a flawed concept in
light of known but unaccounted IUU activities. This means information on the total catches of living
resources from the Baltic Sea are not readily available to the public, who are the ultimate ‗owners‘ or
beneficiaries with regards to the impacts of fisheries on the Baltic Sea LME. Our catch reconstruction
seeks to provide an improved dataset which is available to the general public, displaying clearly
disaggregated catch data (including all IUU components) for each of the 9 coastal Baltic countries
examined, representing an estimate of the likely total fisheries catches from the Baltic Sea LME from 1950
to 2007.
Our total catch reconstruction for the Baltic Sea showed unreported landings of cod to be the main
component of IUU (1950-2007). Unreported landings of cod peaked in 1996 at approximately 130,000
t∙year -1 and comprised about 40% of the unreported landings estimated for all taxa between 1950 and
2007. IUU fishing of cod has been an issue of great importance since cod landings peaked in the 1980s,
and declined substantially in the early 1990s. Prior to 1990, unreported landings comprised approximately
5% of the total reconstructed catch (Baltic-wide), and after the dissolution of the former eastern bloc in the
early 1990s, unreported landings represented approximately 20% of the total reconstructed catch. Our
results indicated that the addition of underreporting in eastern bloc countries, and in particular,
underreporting of cod in Poland (Bale et al., this volume), contributed substantially to this increase.
Overall, our catch reconstruction indicated that Poland (Bale et al., this volume), Denmark (Bale et al.,
this volume) and Sweden (Persson, this volume) were responsible for the bulk of unreported landings in
the Baltic Sea from 1950 to 2007. Poland and Denmark‘s unreported landings were dominated by cod,
while Sweden‘s unreported landings were dominated by herring and sprat. These countries receive the
largest share of the Baltic TAC for these commercial species (Anon., 2007a), implying that the
responsibility for facing up to and curbing the behaviors driving IUU catches weighs heavily upon them.