The present structure and development scenarios of L. Peipsi-Pihkva fish resource use

Markus Vetemaa1, Aija Kosk2, Margit Eero1 & Toomas Saat1

1Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, 51014 Tartu, Estonia 2Institute of Zoology and Hydrobiology, Estonian Agricultural University, Tartu, Estonia E-mail: mvetemaa@ut.ee ; kosk@sab.ee ; margitee@ut.ee ; tsaat@sea.ee

Gulf of

Baltic

Gulf of Finland

Proper

Riga

LATVIA

ESTONIA

FINLAND

Pihkva

Peipsi-

Lake

Dynamics of landings of most important species

The value of commercial catch from L. Peipsi-Pihkva

• 84% from the total catch of the inland Estonian fisheries

• 15% from the total catch of Estonian fisheries (Atlantic fishery excluded).

Fish resource users:

• commercial fishermen

• household fishermen

• recreational fishermen

Commercial fishery

Commercial fishery:

• Total number of allowed gears is limited

• Fishing rights are allocated according to the historical usage principle

• From 2001 onwards 10% of all historical fishing rights is allocated through open auctions

Household fishery

Household fishery:

• Meant for coastal inhabitants to fish for their own use

• Inhabitants of the municipalities bordering Lake Peipsi-Pihkva have the rights to apply for up to 3 gill-nets to be used in the 1 km wide coastal zone

Recreational fishery

Recreational fishery:

• Allowed to everybody, including foreigners

• Number of licenses is not limited

The importance of different species in landings of commercial and household fishermen

commercialburbot2%

smelt33%

pikeperch23%

perch14%

bream12%

roach& silver bream

9%

others1%

pike6%

Total landings 1937.2 tons Total landings 37.4 tons

household

roach& silver bream71%

pikeperch1%

perch16%

others3%

pike4%

ide2%bream

3%

The importance of different species in the value of landings of commercial and household fishermen

commercial

pikeperch47%bream

7%

smelt12%

perch23%

others2%

roach and silver

bream3%

pike6%

household

perch45%

others2%

ide2%

bream3%

pikeperch5%

pike7%

roach and silver

bream36%

Total value 1776*103 Euro Total value 20*103 Euro

The annual dynamics of the value of landings of commercial and household fishery

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

com

mer

cial

fis

hery

0102030405060708090

hous

ehol

d fi

sher

y

commercial household

Commercial fishery:

• Segment is totally privatised

• Estimated total number of fishermen - 400 on the Estonian and 700 on the Russian side

• Number of owners of commercial fishing rights on the Estonian side in 2001 was 65; 36 of them fishing enterprises, 29 one-man enterprises

Number of allowed fishing gears and prices in Estonia

Gear number of gears Price

Estonia RussiaDanish seine 20 20 1602.6

Fyke net 400 500 19.2

Fyke net unit in row 490 no data 6.4

Special fyke net for smelt 300 250 6.4

Gill net for commercial fishermen 3000 3000 9.6

Gill net for coastal inhabitants 1000 1000 6.4*

* price for 1 month,all prices for Estonia (Euro)

Dynamics of the catch value from L.Peipsi and average wage in Estonia

In year 1996 the total value of L. Peipsi-Pihkva official catches corresponded to 672 Estonian average yearly salaries.

The value of 2001 catches corresponded only to 398 average yearly salaries.

1993 1996 1999 2001Average first sell price of pikeperch 25 31 19 30

Estonian average monthly gross wage(Estonian kroons)

1066 2985 4554 5879

Amount of pikeperch (kg) needed toearn average Estonian monthly wage(taxes, fishery costs excluded)

43 96 240 196

Household fishery:• Total number of allowed gill-nets - 1000

Number of household fishermen in 2001 approximately - 600

• Most important species are perch and roach

• 13 % of total roach catches and 2% of perch catches in 2001 were taken by household fishery

The total number of recreational fishing licenses issued by the counties bordering L. Peipsi-Pihkva

Duration of validity 1998 1999 2000 200112 months 2900 4508 3403 42076 months 2237 4073 4395 39211 month 979 1751 2374 12033 days 130 1599 1314 2691 days 315 4143 2476whitefish, under-ice fishing, wholewinter

256 182 127

whitefish, under-ice fishing, 1 day 65 0 0 401

Recreational fishery:

The number of fishermen on ice during 04-10

February 2002 (Monday-Sunday)

Stations 4.02 5.02 6.02 7.02 8.02 9.02 10.02 TotalAlajõe 60 110 130 90 110 320 340 1160Omedu 26 35 81 102 154 1500 712 2610Ninasi (near Kolkja) 28 47 25 34 52 160 71 417Varnja 17 29 36 98 102 450 170 902Piirissaare 20 11 77 75 183Mehikoorma 25 20 9 4 50 88 37 233Total 156 261 281 339 468 2595 1405 5505

Counted by the Estonian Border Guard

Characteristics of Estonian fishery on L. Peipsi in comparison to European countries

• Unlike in most European countries in Estonia recreational fishermen do not play important role in utilisation of fish resources of inland waters

• In Lake Peipsi-Pihkva the share of “catch sellers” in the group of recreational fishermen is high whereas in developed countries recreational fishermen fish almost exclusively for pleasure

• Today the recreational fishery of L. Peipsi-Pihkva is more “an

employment of the last resort” than a leisure-time hobby

• Generally it is accepted that recreational fishery provides higher income to the region for each used unit of fish resource than commercial fishery

• Majority of the recreational fishermen on L.Peipsi-Pihkva are local citizens, which means that they are not providing extra income to the region in form of usual “tourist business”

• Profit-oriented recreational fishery carried out mostly by local people can be evaluated as rather wasteful, because the fish resource taken now by thousands of “artisanal” fishermen could be harvested by significantly smaller number of people using more efficient equipment.

Conclusions:• The fisheries of L. Peipsi-Pihkva is still quite old-fashioned in means of resource use, because the bulk of the catch is taken by commercial fishermen.

• However, the scenario of decreasing importance of the commercial segment in L. Peipsi-Pihkva fisheries can be predicted

• The use of fish resource by local inhabitants in means of household fishery can be evaluated as a positive element. Fishing for own use is a traditional part of the life-style of the region. The right to fish gives additional value to the whole region.

• The character of the recreational fishery is rather untypical being more an additional source of income for many coastal citizens than an activity carried out for pleasure.