2.2 



ESTONIA 



Estonia is one of three Baltic countries that became independent after being part of the Soviet 

 Union for almost five decades. The Estonian fishing industry was part of the centrally planned 

 economy, directed by the Soviet Ministry of Fisheries in Moscow. The republic's fishing fleet 

 was supported by the giant (and expensive) Soviet network of fishery support vessels and 

 representatives in foreign ports. Estonia now has to secure access to fishing grounds in foreign 

 200-mile zones itself and can no longer count on cheap, subsidized Soviet diesel oil. Estonia's 

 fisheries have also lost the infrastructure and domestic Soviet sales network on which they relied 

 over the past half century. The difficult transition from a command to a free-market economy 

 has been exacerbated by the need to reorganize the administrative staff following the dissolution 

 of the Soviet Western Fisheries Administration in Riga. The Estonian fishing fleet has about 80 

 high-seas vessels with a total of 226,000 gross registered tons (GRT); its capacity exceeds the 

 currently available fishery resources. 



CONTENTS 



I. Background 22 



II. Fishing Fleet 22 



A. High-seas Fleet 22 



B. Fleet Reduction 25 



C. Types of High-seas Vessels 25 



D. Baltic Sea Fleet 26 



III. Shipyards 26 



IV. High-seas Fishing Grounds 26 



V. High-seas Fishery Catch 27 



VI. High-seas Fishing Companies 27 



VII. Employment 29 



VIII. Fishery Agreements 29 



IX. Joint Ventures 30 



X. Outlook 30 



Sources 31 



Endnotes 35 



Appendices 37 



21 



