I. BACKGROUND 



Estonia is the smallest of the three Baltic 

 republics both, in size and population. It has 

 an area of roughly 45,000 square kilometers 

 (km), including 2 large islands located in the 

 Baltic Sea which together account for 8 

 percent of Estonia's land area. The country's 

 population numbered 1.6 million inhabitants 

 in 1992. This northern- most former Soviet 

 Baltic republic has a coastline of 1,393 km, if 

 calculated on the baselines alone. Including 

 the coasts of all islands, however, Estonia's 

 total coastline almost triples to 3,794 

 kilometers (about 2,357 miles).' 



Estonia's fishing industry, based in the 

 country's two marine ports at Tallinn and 

 Parnu, employs about 30,000 people." In 

 1991, Estonian fishermen landed 315,000 

 metric tons (t) of fish and shellfish, most of 

 which was exported; approximately 90 

 percent was exported to the former Soviet 

 Union. The entire catch was not used to 

 produce edible fishery products only; over 20 

 percent was reduced to fishmeal (used in 

 animal feeds) and fish oils.^ 



Estonians have always been fishermen and 

 the fishing industry plays an important part in 

 the country's economy, contributing almost 

 900 million rubles to the Estonian gross 

 domestic product in 1991. The value of 

 fishery exports in 1991 amounted to 775 

 million rubles, or over 85 percent of the total 

 value of fisheries output."* 



II. FISHING FLEET 



The Estonian fishing fleet consisted of 210 

 fishing and fishery support vessels as the 



Soviet Union was breaking up in 1991. Of 

 this total, 95 vessels fished on the high-seas 

 and 115 in the Baltic.^ Estonia's fleet 

 comprised only about 28 percent of the 762 

 vessels based in the ports of the three former 

 Soviet Baltic republics. According to the 

 Nordic Investment Bank study, however, 

 much of this fleet was aged and should have 

 been retired. 



By July 1993, the Estonian fishing fleet 

 was greatly reduced and now numbers less 

 than 150 vessels having in excess of 100 

 gross registered tons (CRT), with a total CRT 

 of 236,000 tons. The high-seas fleet accounts 

 for 96 percent of the entire tonnage, or 

 226,000 tons. 



Table 1. Estonia. Fishing fleet, by selected 

 vessel capacity. 1993. 



Capacity 



Number GRT Average GRT 



Under 500 GRT 

 Above 500 GRT 

 Total 



56 9.852 176 



90 225,713 2.508 



146 235.565 1.613 



Source US Navy. Office of Naval 

 Intelligence. 29 July 1993 



A. High-seas Fleet 



In 1991, the Estonian state-owned, high- 

 seas fishing fleet consisted of 95 vessels." By 

 November 1992, the active fleet was reduced 

 to 75 vessels of various types, according to 

 FAO.^ This was 20 units less than the year 

 before; their "disappearance" is explained in 

 section B below. 



The 90 vessels listed in table 1 as having 

 over 500 GRT are most likely all engaged in 

 high-seas fishing; (For a complete list of the 

 vessels showing vessel names, type, GRT, 

 country and year built, see appendix 1.) 



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