FISHERIES GROUPS NETWORK 2009-2015

 

The territory of the Republic of Estonia covers 45 227 km2, including the two large islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. It has approximately 3 780 km of coastline. Hydrogeographically, Estonia lies entirely within the Baltic Sea catchment. Most of its 420 rivers are short; the longest is the Pärnu River (144 km). Lakes are generally small, except for Lake Peipsi, on the eastern border, which is the fifth-largest lake in Europe.
In the field of fisheries, different directions are represented in Estonia: deep sea and coastal fishing, inland water fishing and fish farming.

According to the Estonian fisheries strategy, the diversity of the fisheries sector must be preserved. The more concrete goals of the strategy are: increasing the income of fishermen; balancing fishing possibilities and capacities; placing the highest possible value on fish in Estonia, so that the fisherman could get the biggest possible profits for the caught fish; developing fish farming as an unused potential.

 

 

Estonia has set up action groups in eight Fisheries areas (below):