The number of fishermen on the Swedish West Coast has been reduced by 25 percent in just the last ten years, a new report from the Swedish Board of Fisheries shows.
At the same time, the medium age of the remaining few has risen from 47 to 49.
Tore Gustavsson of the Board of Fisheries, one of the authors of the report, said the reason for the decline is well known: overfishing. Increased efficiency and modernised vessels have built up fisheries to a level which the available stocks do not match. The resulting low profitability, combined with raising demands from family life, hard to combine with many days spent at sea, have contributed to sharply declining recruitment to the profession.
The trend is reflected in the marketplace, the Board added in a press release. The amount of fish and shellfish sold at the three fish auctions on the West Coast has gone down by between 20 and 55 percent during the same period.
The Board of Fisheries tries to support a financially and biologically sustainable development of the industry through management measures such as an ongoing scrapping campaign.
On another note, the Board of Fisheries announced that it will launch a new project, including an earmarked 5.4 million Euros, which will give local fishing communities a greater say in how EU subsidies are used.
The Board will name ten “fishing areas”, from the Vindelälven river in the far North to the southern Baltic port of Simrishamn, that will be able to use parts of the sum for projects in fishing tourism, product development, etc.