Latvia is open to cooperation and joint 

 ventures with foreign partners. It can offer 

 for sale a wide range of fish and fishery 

 products. Good possibilities exist for repairing 

 fishing vessels in Latvian shipyards at low 

 cost; high-quality servicing and maintenance 

 of foreign vessels in Latvian ports is another 

 possibility. Latvia is inviting foreign private 

 companies interested in fisheries cooperation 

 to establish contacts and joint ventures, and to 

 make capital investments. 



The main areas of potential common 

 interest are as follows: joint fishing in foreign 

 exclusive economic zones, marketing of fish 

 and fishery products in industrially developed 

 countries, fishing fleet modernization, 

 modernization of fish-processing plants, joint 

 construction of low-tonnage fishing vessels, 

 manufacturing of fishing nets, and 

 development of salmon and trout farming, as 

 well as the culture of other fish species. 



X. OUTLOOK 



Latvian fisheries are an important 

 sector in the Latvian economy. The industry 

 is endowed with satisfactory ports and 

 adjacent processing facilities which were 

 expanded rapidly from the 1950s to the 

 1970s. The delivery of fishing vessels from 

 Soviet, Polish, and East German shipyards 

 was instrumental in the expansion of Latvian 

 fisheries throughout the world. This fleet, 

 however, was part of Soviet fishery 

 expeditions which were supported by a 

 centralized structure in Moscow. The 

 inexpensive fuel, transportation from fishing 

 grounds back to domestic markets, and 

 regular air exchanges of the crews, made such 

 far-flung operations possible, if not profitable. 

 (Under the Soviet system, any deficits were 



absorbed by the State.) Following Latvia's 

 independence from the USSR in September 

 1991 , however, the situation began to change. 

 Latvia was now a foreign country and Soviet, 

 later Russian, oil was sold to it at world 

 prices, if it was available at all. The large 

 USSR-wide marketing system disappeared. 

 Ukraine and the Russian Federation now 

 import Latvian fishery products as they would 

 from any other foreign country. The worst 

 problem is probably the loss of access to 

 fishing grounds which were previously 

 available under bilateral fishery agreements 

 with many coastal countries in Latin America, 

 Asia, and Africa. Another problem is the 

 lack of diesel fuel. The resulting inability to 

 sail for distant-water fishing grounds has 

 forced almost half of the high-seas fleet to 

 remain idle in Latvian ports. 



SOURCES 



FAO. Fishery Country Profile. Latvia. Rome, April 

 1992. 



Latvian Ministry of Maritime Affairs. "Latvian 

 Fisheries." Riga, December 1992. 



Latvian Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Personal 

 Communications, 1993. 



Lloyd's Registry of Shipping. Fleet Statistics as of 31 

 December 1992. London, 1993. 



National Technical Information Service. Lat\'ia: An 

 Economic Profile. Washington, D.C., August 

 1992. 



Nordic Investment Bank. Baltic study. September 1991. 



U.S. Navy, Office of Naval Intelligence. 



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