2.1 



OVERVIEW 



The three Baltic countries, Estonia, 

 Latvia, and Lithuania, reoccupied by the 

 Red Army in 1944-45, were part of the 

 Soviet empire until August 1991. Their 

 fishing industries were developed (along 

 with those of other Soviet republics) as an 

 integral part of the centrally planned 

 economy, directed by the Soviet Ministry of 

 Fisheries in Moscow. A part of the Soviet 

 worldwide fishery activities was conducted 

 from the Baltic states. Baltic-based fishery 

 operations were serviced, as needed, by the 

 Soviet fishery representatives in foreign 

 ports, where repairs, supplies, water, fuel, 

 and other necessities were provided. The 

 three Baltic countries had no effective policy 

 control over the expanding high-seas 

 fisheries conducted from their ports during 

 the Soviet period. The operations of their 

 fishing and fishery support fleets were 

 managed directly by central Soviet 

 authorities through the Western Fisheries 

 Administration (ZAPRYBA), headquartered 

 in Riga, Latvia. In 1993, the Baltic fishing 

 fleet included 578 vessels with a total 

 tonnage of 1,177,000 gross registered tons 

 (GRT). This included 358 high-seas vessels 

 (1,157,000 GRT) that registered more than 

 500 GRT each. 



A. Background 



The Baltic fishing fleets, operating for 

 40 years under the system of the Soviet 

 expeditionary fishing fleets, organized their 

 own fishing expeditions consisting of high- 

 seas trawlers supported by motherships, 

 fish-processors, tankers, water supply 

 vessels, and other support vessels, but these 

 fleets were always Ashing under the 

 administrative command of the ZAPRYBA. 

 A ZAPRYBA fleet commander (naclialnik 

 flota), located aboard one of the large 

 motherships, was responsible for day-to-day 

 operations and for the transfer of flsh to 

 motherships for processing, or to 

 refrigerated transports for delivery to home 

 ports. This system was in force until 

 September 1991 when the Baltic republics 

 achieved independence and took over the 

 operational command of their fleets, 

 processing plants, and other flshery assets 

 from the ZAPRYBA. At that time, each 

 Baltic country had to set up a new 

 administrative system to manage its Ashing 

 industry. Estonia's fisheries are now 

 managed by the Estonian National Board of 

 Fisheries of the Ministry of the 

 Environment. This Board develops and 



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