Collapse of Political and Economical System as a Cause for Instability in Fisheries Sector: An Estonian Case
By Markus Vetemaa
ABSTRACT
The transition process from soviet economical system to market economy in fisheries has received relatively little attention from fisheries researchers. The focus of this study is to analyse how overall changes in political and economical life of Estonia during the last decade have affected the complex system of the environmental, economic, social and legal issues connected to the fishery. As a result of increased pressure to the stocks the resources of the most important commercial species have seriously decreased. Two separate cases will be followed: the coastal fishery of the Baltic Sea and fishery of the L. Peipus, a transboundary lake between Estonia and Russia. The main commercially important species in those two fisheries are generally the same. However, during both the soviet and the post-soviet period the legal framework to carry out fishing activities on those two waterbodies has been rather different. During the beginning of the nineties the possibility to export fish to the European market appeared. Due high profitability of the fishery the pressure to the fish resources increased substantially, both in terms of total number of fishermen and in their effort. However, since during the last years the revenues have increased much more slowly than costs the economical situation of fishermen has steadily worsened, which has resulted in increasing social problems. The conclusion of the paper is that countries in transition may encounter serious difficulties in fishery sector arising from privatisation and financial deregulation, which may affect the fishery due depleted stocks even years after the establishment of new ruling principles.
KEYWORDS: Estonia, fisheries development, transition to market economy
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