Baltic Sea’s fishermen for the second year in a row failed to reach their cod fishing quota set by the European Union (EU) in 2013. Fishermen claim that it happened because of theirold fleet and the duty to sell the majority of their catch in Lithuania, informs LETA/ELTA.
Fishermen who previously would always like catching cod and would fight over every extra ton of cod have been failing to reach the cod fishing quota for two years in a row: in 2011 they did not catch 600 tonnes, while in 2012 they failed to catch over 2,000 tonnes, or nearly half of their quota.
Fishermen told reporters from Lithuania’s national television that the reason was an outdated fleet as their fishing vessels are 30 years old or older, their motors are not economical. However, fishermen also failed to use the EU funds to update their fleet, claiming that the rules of doing it were very unfavorable. According to the rules, new motors have to be by 20 percent less powerful. Meanwhile, the power of fishermen’s current motors is so low that they cannot sail in a wind stronger than 10 metres per second.
On the other hand, fishermen almost fully met sprat and Baltic herring quotas.
The Baltic Course