Northeast Atlantic: Regulated by the 

 International Commission for the Northeast 

 Atlantic Fisheries (ICNEAF), these grounds 

 became a prime fishery for the Latvian fleet 

 until the European Community (EC) extended 

 its jurisdiction to 200 miles in 1977, 

 excluding all of the former Soviet vessels 

 from its EEZ. No Soviet fishing was allowed 

 in the EC zone for the past 16 years. After 

 Latvia became independent, however, 

 neighboring Denmark extended not only 

 considerable aid to Latvian fishermen, but 

 also allowed them in 1993 to fish off the 

 Faroe Islands for blue whiting. The catch is 

 processed and exported to the countries of the 

 former Soviet Union. The Latvians also fish 

 in the international waters of the northeastern 

 Atlantic. 



Central East Atlantic: The fishery off the 

 West African coast was, in recent decades, 

 the most important Latvian fishing ground. 

 Operations centered on the waters off the 

 disputed Western Sahara, off Mauritania 

 (under a bilateral agreement with the former 

 Soviet Union which also benefitted Latvia), 

 and off Namibia (the former UN Trust 

 Territory of Southwest Africa). Namibia's 

 independence and Morocco's annexation of 

 Western Sahara spelled the end of these 

 operations. 



Southwestern Atlantic: The Latvians fish for 

 squid beyond the conservation zone (150 

 miles) of the Falkland Islands, which is 

 administered by the United Kingdom. The 

 catch is sold on the grounds to Japanese 

 refrigerated transports at $1,200-1,400 per 

 metric ton for frozen, cleaned squid tubes. 



Northwest Pacific: Latvian fishermen catch 

 Alaska pollock in Russian waters for delivery 

 to Kamchatka processing plants. Only two 

 large stern factory trawlers, on lease to a 



Kamchatka joint venture company, are 

 currently deployed in this fishery. 



VII. CATCH AND PRODUCTION 



Latvian fishermen traditionally 

 contributed about 5 percent of the former 

 Soviet Union's fishery landings, or from 

 500,000-550,000 metric tons (t). The peak 

 was reached in 1987 when Latvian fleets 

 brought in 571,000 t of fish and shellfish 

 (appendix 6). 



In 1991, Latvian fishery landings 

 amounted to 366,000 tons. Of this total, 

 310,000 t was harvested on the high-seas and 

 in the economic zones of various other 

 countries, while 56,000 t was caught in the 

 Baltic Sea. Data for 1992 are not available, 

 but the catch is estimated to have been about 

 150,000 tons. The estimated fishery landings 

 for 1993 are approximately 200,000 tons. 



In 1991, a total of 211,000 t of 

 processed seafood, 203 million standard cans 

 and 24,000 t of fishmeal was produced. 

 Latvian fish hatcheries release annually over 

 7 million fish fingerlings, including 700,000 

 Atlantic salmon and trout smolts; these are 

 released in the Baltic Sea. 



The Latvian Republic has 5 fish- 

 processing plants, 8 fish farms, and a 

 fisheries ship-repair yard as well as a plant 

 that manufactures fish-processing equipment. 



VIII. FISHING COMPANIES 



The Latvian fishing companies are 

 divided into private and state-owned firms. 

 The private sector consists mainly of 1 1 

 fishing cooperatives; these are multipurpose 



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