seafood is an important business in Sweden today. 

 Annual consumption of fishery products is around 26 

 kilograms of fish per capita; two thirds of this fish is 

 imported and one-third caught by Swedish 

 fishermen.^ Modest quantities of herring and 

 industrial fish (i.e., fish used for reduction into 

 fishmeal and fishoil) are landed in Denmark which is 

 the major market for these types of fish.* Sweden 

 has a 2,862 kilometer coastline consisting of many 

 bays, coves, and islands. The Swedish shelf area 

 includes 165,295 square kilometers. The country 

 also has some 100,000 lakes covering about 38,000 

 square kilometers. This has attracted many 

 individual fishermen who operate small fishing boats 

 from many ports. Unfortunately, the low salinity of 

 the Baltic yields only a few species of fish. Without 

 access to distant fishing grounds, the Swedish fishing 

 effort has been increasingly limited.' For additional 

 information on Sweden's fishing industry refer to 

 tables 1 to 3. 



Sweden's high-seas fleet in 1992 consisted of 8 

 vessels, all under 1,000-GRT. The Swedish high- 

 seas fleet in 1993 included: Argos (985 -GRT), Ganthi 

 (534-GRT), Ginneton (534-GRT),Z^von (511-GRT), 

 Polar (690-GRT), Teaterskeppet (774-GRT), and the 

 Torland{l\e-GKl)}^ 



3. Modernization Programs 



In 1984-85, the Swedish government allocated 

 just under $6 million in state aid to modernize the 

 Swedish fishing fleet. The program included low 

 interest loans for vessel construction, subsidies for 

 new vessels, and funds to assist fishermen shifting 

 into more profitable types of fishing.'^ Similar 

 programs were reported for 1991-92 by the 

 Government of Sweden; slightly more than $0.8 

 million was made available for the construction of 

 new fishing vessels, and the purchase of second-hand 

 vessels. 



2. Fleet Background 



The total fishing fleet (powered vessels) has 

 gradually declined from 4,000 vessels in 1981 to 

 1,638 licensed fishing vessels in 1992.'° The high- 

 seas fleet grew from 3 vessels in 1988 to a high of 

 8 vessels in 1992 (table 1 and figure 1)." 



i»u 



1SI5 



■Vossels aver 5M-GRT •■T^nnajo 



Figure I. Sweden's high-seas fishing fleet, 

 1975-92. 



The Govenmient budget for support to Swedish 

 fisheries for the 1992-93 fiscal year was $5 million. 

 The ceiling for credit guarantees to fishing companies 

 has been $9.4 million in the loan program for FY 

 1992-93.'" 



As of FY 1993-94, the fishery loan program will 

 be abolished. Government support for modernizing 

 the fishing industry will only be provided in the form 

 of credit guarantees in the future. The allocation for 

 FY 1993-94 will be $3.3 milllion and the funds will 

 be used for modernization, supporting idle vessels, 

 and improving quality controls in the fishing industry. 

 Of the total amount, a litfle more than half is 

 earmarked for the modernization of the fishing fleet. '^ 



4. Decommissioning Programs 



The Swedish government has introduced 

 scrapping subsidies as part of an overall program to 

 modernize the country's fleet of small, aging 

 vessels." 



5. Shipyards 



Between 1976 and 1978, there was one 2,508- 

 GRT vessel operating under the Swedish flag. That 

 vessel was decommissioned in 1979, and has never 

 been replaced. A 1,181-GRT vessel began operating 

 in 1980, but was sold or otherwise decommissioned 

 in 1987 and it also has never been replaced. 



Swedish shipyards produce mostly small craft for 

 local fishermen. However, on occasion they have 

 produced very large vessels. The Irish super trawler, 

 Veronica (4,034-GRT), for example, was built by the 

 Marstrandsverben yard in Sweden. The Veronica is 



242 



