Fishing

Fishing has been an important source of livelihood for people living in coastal Estonia. European sprat and Baltic herring have always been a part of the Estonian diet. Rainbow trout from fish farms has shown up more recently. Fish caught in Estonian waters and processed here reaches also the tables of people living in other countries.

Fishing and aquaculture statistics provide the following information:

  • which fish and from which water bodies are caught the most;
  • what is the state of spawning stock;
  • how are Estonian fish farmers doing;
  • how many people are employed in aquaculture and fishing.

Fisheries statistics are used to plan and monitor fishing activities, to manage fish stocks, taking into account the ecosystem, in order to reduce the negative impact of fishing activities and to secure fish stocks for the future.

Ocean fish catch 15,681.7 tonnes
2022
Baltic Sea fish catch 55,549.5 tonnes
2022
European sprat catch in the Baltic Sea 27,551.9 tonnes
2022
Baltic herring catch in the Baltic Sea 25,313.3 tonnes
2022
Inland waters fish catch 2,630.4 tonnes
2022
Condition of spawning stock biomass in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Riga 0 tonnes
2022
Share of marine protected areas 18.7 %
2022
Fish farming production sold in Estonia 801 tonnes
2022
Sales of farmed fish roe for consumption 2.7 tonnes
2022
Fish farming production sold | 2007–2022
Baltic Sea fish catch by species | 2007–2022
Ocean fish catch by species | 2007–2022
Inland waters fish catch by species | 2007 – 2022
Unit: tonnes
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
European perch 365 759 820 1,217 777 1,077 920 797 836 1,025 682 568 799 1,251 518 847
European eel 24 24 16 14 13 15 15 16 14 14 15 18 21 37 46 51
Northern pike 176 90 102 85 135 203 217 188 144 143 134 122 144 148 121 103
Pike-perch 929 668 723 534 711 681 672 657 462 761 918 736 695 949 625 479
Freshwater bream 546 768 782 574 677 681 696 850 784 757 847 754 664 712 803 748
Burbot 37 33 30 29 32 25 28 23 19 28 45 41 47 47 49 28
Atlantic salmon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Silver bream / roach 269 252 211 223 246 223 202 235 229 222 212 211 188 220 261 284
Houting 2 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
European cisco 1 1 1 1 1 2 6 19 11 13 45 307 303 143 83 46
European river lamprey 62 67 59 40 39 45 40 30 47 31 41 25 34 36 27 27
Orde(Ide) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 5 4 3 3 3
European smelt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 355 19 56 149 0
Vimba 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other fish 154 84 81 49 17 15 51 31 27 23 13 14 14 14 17 13

Baltic Sea fish catch by species | 2007 – 2022
Unit: tonnes
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
European perch 777 703 810 879 796 550 1,217 1,567 1,523 1,374 1,291 1,137 979 749 792 760
European eel 6 5 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2
Eelpout 2 1 0 1 3 4 1 0 1 0 68 69 31 35 16 29
Sea trout 17 12 14 12 14 17 15 15 16 20 17 17 17 17 15 16
Northern pike 14 16 13 23 32 35 66 65 52 42 40 68 76 77 60 55
European sprat 51,007 48,602 47,298 47,862 34,976 27,697 29,805 28,498 23,954 23,687 26,546 29,626 30,649 24,310 25,713 27,552
Pike-perch 99 64 67 73 111 147 122 173 83 107 56 66 52 20 53 24
Freshwater bream 9 7 5 4 8 11 9 13 8 7 8 9 9 6 5 6
Flounder 335 284 288 285 280 243 284 313 239 201 187 169 150 176 115 108
Burbot 3 1 1 1 2 2 3 5 5 4 3 2 2 1 1 1
Atlantic salmon 6 6 5 4 4 5 7 5 6 7 9 8 8 11 7 7
Silver bream / roach 102 84 81 88 106 111 102 124 125 140 120 133 158 183 154 204
Baltic herring 26,108 31,838 33,164 28,862 25,325 22,047 21,941 23,130 32,317 33,769 35,153 34,726 32,833 28,608 27,177 25,313
Pollan (=powan) 31 30 23 16 15 20 26 26 19 18 16 17 16 25 25 24
European river lampery 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ide (fish) 9 11 9 6 6 4 7 12 16 27 36 49 50 48 65 69
European smelt 549 739 771 452 200 406 517 234 435 699 411 425 624 964 784 817
Atlantic cod 946 973 821 796 1,180 689 249 165 183 2 1 1 2 1 1 1
Garfish 110 82 71 86 118 25 19 44 116 70 177 75 130 127 107 159
Vimba 35 32 23 30 50 53 56 84 93 73 88 97 119 80 75 86
Other fish 79 85 79 89 124 142 111 153 135 194 250 241 244 326 341 317

Ocean fish catch by species | 2007 – 2022
Unit: tonnes
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Atlantic cod 25 73 128 93 105 285 730 907 989 529 2,544 2,031 2,159 1,289 1,016 798
Sharks 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sea bream 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Atlantic halibut 0 3 0 3 3 10 11 25 22 30 41 44 44 31 38 31
Krill 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
American plaice 33 77 29 9 36 37 226 1,177 537 1,105 1,249 1,690 1,071 1,000 585 488
Silver hake 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 151 114 57 55 21 0 20 523 142
Angel shark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Octopuses 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Roundnose grenadier 140 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Squids 0 0 5 43 329 1,248 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
Shrimps 12,076 12,742 8,587 9,037 9,919 7,576 6,653 5,665 6,651 6,954 7,413 8,019 9,795 9,174 8,810 11,282
Winter flounder 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Splendid alfonsino 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cutlassfish 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Capelin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Atlantic mackerel 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,367 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Blue grenadier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Atlantic redfish 1,040 1,003 1,748 1,340 1,075 368 1,573 1,300 1,512 1,656 2,198 3,590 3,252 1,820 1,707 2,018
Wolffishes 10 2 5 12 0 0 1 14 1 8 30 36 15 3 0 0
Witch flounder 24 38 8 11 14 33 16 40 22 40 66 31 27 127 73 4
Red hake 2 0 0 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Blue whiting 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Roughhead grenadier 69 132 41 93 116 72 110 136 26 13 23 12 3 11 46 3
Skate 366 123 29 228 82 161 155 246 47 162 304 46 7 2 26 27
Yellowtail flounder 25 33 0 4 13 32 350 24 342 351 39 347 358 335 315 393
Saithe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
European pilchard 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sardinellas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Blue ling 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Atlantic horse mackerel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Black scabbardfish 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Greenland halibut 366 299 300 441 279 266 727 1,037 694 1,092 1,142 1,286 1,103 1,067 897 495
Black drum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tuna 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
White hake 32 19 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 10 2 0
Butterfish 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other fish 704 16 1 1,510 2,618 1,902 36 126 38 31 31 0 0 4 1 0

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In fish farming, output decreased but the prices increased

According to Statistics Estonia, in 2022, fish farming enterprises sold 801 tonnes of commercial fish and crayfish, for a total of 4.9 million euros. The sale of fish roe amounted to 2.7 tonnes. The sold quantity of fish farming production decreased for the third year in a row. The quantity of fish roe sold in 2022 was 8 times smaller than the year before.
Read more 24. May 2023
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