There is no generally accepted definition of a coastal fishery zone in the Baltic Sea. There are some examples of such fisheries closely linked to the coast, but most fisheries straddle into deeper waters. Some Contracting Parties have separate fisheries arrangements for their coastal zones.

Several fisheries take place both in the coastal zone and offshore. Particularly in the archipelagos, fishing inside the base lines is also of importance. True coastal fisheries are mainly executed with traps and pound, set- and fyke-net fisheries from the coast. In Sweden and in Finland there are owner rights to the fisheries in some waters inside the base lines. These rights locally define a coastal fishery.

Historic Stock development

The coastal fisheries were fairly constant for many years. However partly in response to the decline of the cod stock after the mid 1980s fisheries have diversified and the effort in several coastal fisheries have increased. This has not yet escalated the extent of overfishing of the coastal resources.

The status of the fish stocks occurring in major parts of the Baltic Sea that are of major commercial importance is presented in section 1.1. Those species occurring in the fresh water or low saline waters close to the coastal usually constitute several localised stocks. There is no regular assessment done by ICES of fish resources in the coastal zones. There are national evaluations of such resources and national regulation of the fisheries. However the status of those resources is mostly known only approximately.

The eel population is a special case. This population has decreased since the mid-50s. However, eel is an intercontinental stock but the component in the Baltic is an important part. The decline of the stock is seen throughout Europe and could be the combined effect of fishing and changes of wetland, waterways and the Golf Stream. Hence appropriate eel management needs to address wider issues than fisheries for which IBSFC are responsible. These discussions must also include a wider group of stakeholders reaching beyond the Baltic Countries. Also in other parts of the world there is an increased concern with regard to the eel.

Biological description of species

Because the salinity decreases from the western Baltic to the Gulf of Bothnia the species composition in the fish assemblages changes drastically from being dominated by marine species in the west to typical freshwater species in the North and East. The only species of major commercial importance which appear throughout this range are herring, salmon, and sea trout. Several flat fish species are of importance in the Western Baltic such as brill, dab, plaice and turbot but only flounder is found throughout the Baltic Proper. The coastal area is more influenced by the fresh water discharge than the areas offshore. Therefore brackish or freshwater species occur in the coastal fisheries but not in the corresponding offshore area. North of the Aaland Islands the salinity is below 5 psu and here the fish assemblage is essentially a fresh water community. In this context, it should be noted that this low salinity marine environment in the Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland is unique from the global point of view and it gives great biodiversity to the Baltic Sea. Eel is special case as this catadromous species do not spawn in the Baltic Sea and the stock development is therefore influenced by among other things fisheries outside the Baltic. In the Western Baltic there is migrations between this area and the Kattegat and Skagerrak. The herring migrations are of particular importance as these migrating herring are heavily exploited in Kattegat-Skagerrak.

The coastal zone is the nursery ground for many species, e.g. herring and flatfishes, and therefore the size composition in the catches in these areas differs from that observed in the open sea. However there are several species which spend their entire livespan in the coastal zone. Except for trout the same stocks appear both in the coastal zone and in the open sea. Trout stocks exist which during the sea-phase of their life are confined to the coastal zone. There are also wide-migrating sea trout stocks occurring outside the coastal zone. Rainbow trout occurs in small numbers both in inland and coastal fisheries but is not indigenous to the Baltic Sea. This species was introduced by sea ranching and escapements from aquaculture activities. The species is described under aquaculture.

Fisheries and their development

There are few well defined coastal fisheries in the Baltic Sea. The true coastal fisheries are by traps, gill-, pound-, set- and fyke nets. In the Western Baltic there is a fishery for mussels (mainly blue mussels) prosecuted with dregdes. In the Gulf of Riga, the Gulf of Finland and north of the Aaland Island the coastal fisheries is locally very important. Not only are herring, eel, salmon, trout and flounder important species in the coastal fisheries; whitefish and pike-perch are also important species in the coasts of Gulf of Bothnia, Gulf of Finland and Gulf of Riga. These coastal fisheries are small enterprises sometimes linked to private owner right's to fishing specific waters. There are fishing with gillnetters and small trawlers in the coastal zone. These fisheries are often not confined to the coastal zone but extent further offshore. Overall herring, eel, salmon, trout and flounder are the most important species in the coastal fisheries. The catches are accounted for in the overall statistics for the Baltic Sea.

The coastal fisheries are under national jurisdiction and managed by national regulations. The IBSFC regulations - TACs and technical measures - apply also in these coastal fisheries. These regulations are however defined based on management needs in the open seas fisheries in conformity with the mandate of IBSFC and apply in the national zones because of the need for consistent management. The IBSFC regulations are nationally supplemented by regulations many of which only apply to specific localities. There are no comprehensive international fisheries statistics available for the coastal zone. The IBSFC statistics include these coastal catches in the statistics for the total Baltic Sea catches. These statistics however only cover a restricted number of species (Cod, herring, sprat, salmon, sea trout). More comprehensive fisheries statistics for the Baltic Sea fisheries are published by FAO and ICES based on national reports under the STATLANT programme. These statistics also include the yield from coastal fisheries in the species totals for the marine areas.

The coastal zone is also exploited for recreational purposes. In e.g. Sweden the overall recreational catch of fresh water species is ten times higher than the commercial catch of the same species. The recreational exploitation is highest around the most dense populated areas and is in these areas of importance compared to the commercial catches of some species eg cod in the Oresund. The catch statistics for the recreational fisheries are not complete but when available data are included in the general statistics on catches. The distinction between recreational, part-time fishing and commercial fishing is usually laid down in national regulations. This distinction however is in several areas fairly arbitrary and the spectrum from recreational to full-time commercial fishers present a continuum.

Western and Central Baltic Sea

The most important fisheries in the coastal fisheries are exploiting the same species as in the open sea (cod, herring, etc.). These stocks and fisheries are described in section 1.1. This description is supplemented by a short description of garfish, eel, common prawn and blue mussel. In the western most part of the Baltic occasional inflow of high saline waters from the North Sea will allow North Atlantic species like saithe and whiting to appear in greater number. Mackerel appears regularly in the Øresund area. These species are not included in the biological description of the Baltic Sea ecosystem.

The only distinct coastal fisheries which exist in these areas are eel fisheries and fisheries for mussels and other shellfish. These stocks and fisheries are described in section 1.1. There has been an increase in the coastal fisheries in recent years in response to the low cod stock as the fisheries have diversified into fishing for other resources, e.g. flat fish. There are fisheries for blue mussels and common prawn in the western part of the Baltic.

In some areas like Pomeranian Bay and Gulf of Gdansk seasonally a profitable fishery is performed on freshwater fishes eg. eel, pike perch and perch.

Curonian Lagoon

The Curonian Lagoon is exploited by Russian and Lithuanian fishermen. The main commercial fish species are bream, roach, pike-perch, perch and smelt. The stocks of main commercial fish species are stable in recent years. The recreational fishery of bream, perch, pike-perch and smelt is important.

Gulf of Riga

The Gulf of Riga estuary is fully covered by areas under the jurisdiction of Estonia and Latvia, no any other countries fished in the Gulf. The Gulf of Riga is more influenced by freshwater discharge from rivers, noticeably the Daugava, than Baltic Proper. Therefore, a share of brackish and freshwater fishes are more important here. However, the commercially most important fish in the Gulf is herring, fished by pelagic trawls (70%) and pound-nets (30 %). From marine species also a sprat, mainly as bycatch in herring trawl fishery, flounder and garfish are fished, the cod entranced into the Gulf during the period of high abundance it's stock.

The brackish and freshwater species, such as pike-perch, perch, vimba, pike, ide and roach are fished in coastal zone by using traps, gillnets, fykes, longlines and beach seine nets. In Latvia quite important is the fishery of eelpout by traps. Salmon, originated from Latvian rivers, wild as well reared, are fished by traps and gillnets along Latvian coast mainly. During the recent years the intensity of coastal fishery was increased and some local stocks of pike-perch and perch are overexploited. Due to environmental condition, the stocks of whitefish in the Gulf are drastically declined, by the same reason the stock of smelt is very low.

Gulf of Finland

The herring and sprat fishery by pelagic trawl is the most important in the Gulf of Finland. There are also some herring fishery by pound-nets and traps. Of marine species, flounder is also caught by traps and gillnets. The salmon, mainly reared stocks, is fished in the open sea area by long lines and to in small scale by drift nets too. However, most of the salmon catch is caught by traps, fykes along the Finnish coast. The several brackish and freshwater species, such as pike, pike-perch, perch, whitefish, bream, roach and ide are fished in coastal waters by traps, fykes, gillnets, long lines both, by commercial fishermen as well by non-commercial ones. The recreational fishery of these species is very important. Due to intensive fishery and other environmental factors during recent years, some local stocks of pike-perch, bream and white fish are overexploited. In the rivers the fishery of lamprey is active.

Gulf of Bothnia

The species which dominates in these fisheries are salmon and a number fresh water species. Herring, salmon, sea trout, whitefish, vendance and perch are the most important species.

The fisheries in this area are prosecuted by Finland and Sweden. In mouths of rivers carrying reared populations such as salmon, sea trout and white fish there are intense coastal fisheries during the spawning migration period. Outside rivers carrying wild populations closed areas are enforced. The fishing gears are trawls for herring and vendace and traps and drift nets for salmon. Traps and gill nets are set for white fish and other brackish water species. The coastal salmon fisheries are based on migrating homing salmon. Around the rivers where release of salmon takes place there are intense coastal salmon fisheries in the salmon migrating season. The salmon fisheries have changed significantly in recent years towards more rational and responsible exploitation. This change is due to the decrease in TACs introduced by the IBSFC and strict national management and the changed market situation created by an enormous increase in the supply of salmon from aquaculture production.

Vistula and Szczecin lagoons

Herring comes from the open sea to spawn in the Vistula Lagoon. Other species occurring in both lagoons are typical freshwater species. The most valued species in the Vistula Lagoon are eel, herring and pike perch and in the Szczecin Lagoon - eel, perch and pike perch. The Vistula Lagoon is exploited by Polish and Russian fishermen and the Szczecin Lagoon by German and Polish fishermen.

The table in Annex 1 presents a list of the commercially more important species and their catches in the mid 1990s (where available figures for 1996 have been used).