I. BACKGROUND 



The Republic of Poland, a 

 northern East European country, 

 bordering on Czechoslovakia, 

 Germany, Lithuania, Belarus, 

 Ukraine, and Russia (at 

 Kaliningrad Oblast) had over 38 

 million inhabitants as of July 

 1992. It covers a total area of 

 312,680 square kilometers 

 (slightly smaller than New 

 Mexico), and its coastline extends 

 along the Baltic Sea for 491 

 kilometers. It has 4 major fishery 

 ports on the Baltic Sea - Gdansk, 

 Gdynia, Szczecin, and Swinoujscie. 



High-seas catc 

 69.7% 



Total catch = 514,000 metric tons 



Figure 1. Poland. Fisheries catch, by percent of total; 1992. 



Although the fishing industry in Poland is 

 an important provider of food and a 

 significant earner of hard currencies, it is not 

 a large component of the national economy. 

 The Polish Marine Fisheries Institute (MIR) 

 in Gdynia estimated that in 1992 only about 

 0.3 percent of the gross national product was 

 contributed by the fisheries sector.' In the 

 maritime provinces, however, fisheries and its 

 supporting branches of the economy 

 (shipbuilding, trade, etc.) play a leading role 

 and provide employment to a large segment 

 of the population, often in locations where no 

 other employment opportunities exist. 



In 1992, almost 32,000 persons were 

 employed in Polish fisheries, yet this 

 represented only 0.2 percent of total 

 employment.- The per capita consumption of 

 fishery products is about 6 kilograms.^ 

 Consumption is expected to increase, mainly 

 because of herring and mackerel fishery 

 imports, but also because the Polish herring 

 and mackerel catch is now being processed by 

 private, competing companies which package 



it attractively to appeal to more consumers." 



In 1992, the total Polish fisheries catch 

 was 514,000 metric tons (t), most of which 

 was harvested on the high-seas (figure 1). 

 Before World War II and in the early 1950s, 

 the Baltic catch represented the entire Polish 

 catch, but by 1992 it had been reduced to 

 105,000 t, or about 20 percent of the total, 

 while the high-seas catch (358,500 t) had 

 grown to 70 percent of the total. The inland 

 catch (51,000 t in 1992), although never a 

 substantial part of the overall catch, has been 

 increasing steadily since 1980 when only 

 18,700 t were harvested. 



In 1989, following the adoption of a 

 democratic political system and movement 

 toward a free-market economy, changes began 

 to be implemented in the Polish fishing 

 industry. The previous subsidies' and fixed 

 prices for fishery products were abandoned, a 

 liberal policy based on market forces was 

 introduced, and foreign trade barriers were 

 abolished.* 



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