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 13,854.0 tonnes

2023

Tabel KA10

Baltic Sea fish catch 57,504.9 tonnes

2023

Tabel KA20

European sprat catch in the Baltic Sea 25,364.7 tonnes

2023

Tabel KA20

Baltic herring catch in the Baltic Sea 29,366.4 tonnes

2023

Tabel KA20

Inland waters fish catch 2,505.9 tonnes

2023

Tabel KA30

Condition of spawning stock biomass in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Riga 0 tonnes

2022

Tabel SN11

Share of marine protected areas 19.3 %

2023

Tabel SN11

Fish farming production sold in Estonia 918 tonnes

2023

Tabel KA40

Sales of farmed fish roe for consumption 9.9 tonnes

2023

Tabel KA40

Fish farming production sold | 2008–2023

Source data in the statistical database: KA40

Baltic Sea fish catch by species | 2008–2023

Source data in the statistical database: KA20

Ocean fish catch by species | 2008–2023

Source data in the statistical database: KA10

Inland waters fish catch by species | 2008 – 2023

Unit: tonnes

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
European perch	759	820	1,217	777	1,077	920	797	836	1,025	682	568	799	1,251	518	847	846
European eel	24	16	14	13	15	15	16	14	14	15	18	21	37	46	51	57
Northern pike	90	102	85	135	203	217	188	144	143	134	122	144	148	121	103	110
Pike-perch	668	723	534	711	681	672	657	462	761	918	736	695	949	625	479	469
Freshwater bream	768	782	574	677	681	696	850	784	757	847	754	664	712	803	748	663
Burbot	33	30	29	32	25	28	23	19	28	45	41	47	47	49	28	23
Atlantic salmon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Silver bream / roach	252	211	223	246	223	202	235	229	222	212	211	188	220	261	284	272
Houting	1	3	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
European cisco	1	1	1	1	2	6	19	11	13	45	307	303	143	83	46	10
European river lamprey	67	59	40	39	45	40	30	47	31	41	25	34	36	27	27	35
Orde(Ide)	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	5	4	3	3	3	6
European smelt	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	355	19	56	149	0	0
Vimba	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other fish	84	81	49	17	15	51	31	27	23	13	14	14	14	17	13	14

Source data in the statistical database: KA30

Baltic Sea fish catch by species | 2008 – 2023

Unit: tonnes

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
European perch	703	810	879	796	550	1,217	1,567	1,523	1,374	1,291	1,137	979	749	792	760	793
European eel	5	4	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2
Eelpout	1	0	1	3	4	1	0	1	0	68	69	31	35	16	29	12
Sea trout	12	14	12	14	17	15	15	16	20	17	17	17	17	15	16	16
Northern pike	16	13	23	32	35	66	65	52	42	40	68	76	77	60	55	101
European sprat	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	25,365
Pike-perch	64	67	73	111	147	122	173	83	107	56	66	52	20	53	24	23
Freshwater bream	7	5	4	8	11	9	13	8	7	8	9	9	6	5	6	8
Flounder	284	288	285	280	243	284	313	239	201	187	169	150	176	115	108	98
Burbot	1	1	1	2	2	3	5	5	4	3	2	2	1	1	1	1
Atlantic salmon	6	5	4	4	5	7	5	6	7	9	8	8	11	7	7	7
Silver bream / roach	84	81	88	106	111	102	124	125	140	120	133	158	183	154	204	212
Baltic herring	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	29,366
Pollan (=powan)	30	23	16	15	20	26	26	19	18	16	17	16	25	25	24	16
European river lampery	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ide (fish)	11	9	6	6	4	7	12	16	27	36	49	50	48	65	69	127
European smelt	739	771	452	200	406	517	234	435	699	411	425	624	964	784	817	708
Atlantic cod	973	821	796	1,180	689	249	165	183	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	1
Garfish	82	71	86	118	25	19	44	116	70	177	75	130	127	107	159	107
Vimba	32	23	30	50	53	56	84	93	73	88	97	119	80	75	86	88
Other fish	85	79	89	124	142	111	153	135	194	250	241	244	326	341	317	454

Source data in the statistical database: KA20

Ocean fish catch by species | 2008 – 2023

Unit: tonnes

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Atlantic cod	73	128	93	105	285	730	907	989	529	2,544	2,031	2,159	1,289	1,016	798	746
Sharks	0	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	3	0	3	3	10	11	25	22	30	41	44	44	31	38	31	0
Krill	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
American plaice	77	29	9	36	37	226	1,177	537	1,105	1,249	1,690	1,071	1,000	585	488	258
Silver hake	0	0	0	0	0	0	151	114	57	55	21	0	20	523	142	0
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	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0
Squids	0	5	43	329	1,248	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0	0
Shrimps	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	12,752
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	1,367	0	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	1,003	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	0
Wolffishes	2	5	12	0	0	1	14	1	8	30	36	15	3	0	0	0
Witch flounder	38	8	11	14	33	16	40	22	40	66	31	27	127	73	4	0
Red hake	0	0	19	0	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	132	41	93	116	72	110	136	26	13	23	12	3	11	46	3	0
Skate	123	29	228	82	161	155	246	47	162	304	46	7	2	26	27	0
Yellowtail flounder	33	0	4	13	32	350	24	342	351	39	347	358	335	315	393	0
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	0	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	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Greenland halibut	299	300	441	279	266	727	1,037	694	1,092	1,142	1,286	1,103	1,067	897	495	98
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	19	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	10	2	0	0
Butterfish	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other fish	16	1	1,510	2,618	1,902	36	126	38	31	31	0	0	4	1	0	0

Source data in the statistical database: KA10

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Output of fish farms increased, prices remained largely unchanged

According to Statistics Estonia, in 2023, aquaculture enterprises (fish and crayfish farms) sold 918 tonnes of commercial fish and crayfish, for a total of €5.7 million. The sale of fish roe for consumption amounted to nearly 10 tonnes. The sold quantity of fish farming production increased after three years of decline. The amount of fish roe sold was 3.5 times higher than in 2022.

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.

Sales of crayfish and fish roe grew the most last year

According to Statistics Estonia, in 2020, fish farming enterprises sold 1,039 tonnes of commercial fish and crayfish, for a total of more than 4 million euros. The biggest increase occurred for fish roe placed on the market, with record sales registered.