Recreational Fisheries in Lithuania

Recreational fishERIES in Lithuania

Putting Lithuania on the map of recreational fishing in Europe

Algirdas Domarkas
The Union of Pisciculturists
Kuosų St. 12-1, Vilnius LT-10311, LITHUANIA
E-mail: / Eglė Radaitytė
LithuanianState Pisciculture and Fisheries Research Centre
Konstitucijos Ave. 23, Vilnius LT-08105, LITHUANIA
E-mail:

The goal of the presentation is to introduce the field of recreational fisheries in Lithuania, which has been going through dynamicchanges in recent years.

The presentation will discuss:

-Angling in Lithuania;

-Social and Economic Value of Recreational Fishing (data collected from actual surveys: Attitudes Towards Fisheries, Money Spent on Fishing and Non-Observance of Fishing Rules);

-Future of Recreational Fisheries.

Angling in Lithuania

Angling has always been one of the most popular leisure pursuits in Lithuania. This is not surprising, as four percent (2,639 square km) of the country’s territory is covered by water and, in addition, there is the Baltic Sea coast and the Curonian Lagoon, which are popular fishing locations as well.

Picture 1. River Basins in Lithuania.

However, there has always been the common misconception that the development of recreational fishing and the introduction of fishing tourism could have no positive effect to increase fish stocks and assist conservation. It is only now after some research and the involvement of non-governmental organisations that the full potential can be seen.

Social and Economic Value of Recreational Fishing

Results of surveys conducted to date have not yet been presented on the international level, therefore, the presentation mainly focuses on the outcomes of surveys carried out during the past years and interpretation of the data.

A survey was conducted by Vilmorus, a market research company, on behalf of the Alliance of Associations “Žuvininkų Rūmai” (The Chamber of Pisciculturists, NGO) in 2002. The finding was that approximately 1.5 million (or 55 percent) of Lithuanian citizens quite often take fishing rods and spend their leisure time by the rivers and lakes. Angling is well liked for 8 males out of 10 and 3-4 females out of 10.

Picture 2. Percentage of fishing population.Picture 3. Fishing population by sex.

The survey showed that recreational fishing were most popular among people of between 18 and 30 years of age. This is characteristic to 7 out of 10 of survey participants. It is interesting to note, that the age of angling enthusiasts correlates with the hobby: with ageincreasing, the comparative weight of fishermen tends to go down. In the age group between 50 and 59 years, 6 out of 10 persons spend their time fishing, with the number dropping to 3-4 persons in the age group of 60 years and more (See Picture 4).

Picture 4. Age indicators of fishing population (2002).

Consequently, fishing as a way of recreation can be linked with employable age: 2 out of 3 respondents of working age enjoy angling, while this type of recreation loses its attraction in the retirement age, with merely 1 out of 3 of surveyed pensioners taking their fishing rods and spending time by rivers and lakes.

Speaking about financial conditions of living, they are related with fisheries in several different ways: 6 out of 10 persons with low income (up to 200 Litas per household member or approximately 58 Euros) seek financial benefit, i.e., a source of income, rather than relaxation in angling. Increasing income changes motivation of angling considerably (See Picture 5).

Picture 5. Income indicators of fishing population (2002).

Survey carried out in 2003[1]showed that Lithuanians spent an average of 140 Litas (approximately 40.5 Euros) on angling needs per surveyed year. Without any doubt, men spend money on fishing needs more often (or they get more fishing rods as gifts) than women do. Some 33.3 percent of men and merely 5.0 percent of women spend money on fishing.

Picture 6. Distribution of fishing expenses by sex (2003).

Young people tend to more often spend money on their fishing needs, with the indicator reaching 29 percent in the age group of 15-19 years. Persons of 75 and more years of age have least angling-related expenses.

Picture 7. Distribution of fishing expenses by age (2003).

By income per member of a household, the highest percentage of persons having fishing expenses was in the group with over 500 Litas of income per month (21.6 percent) and among those with under 200 Litas of monthly income (19.3 percent).

Picture 8. Income indicators of fishing population (2003).

It should be noted that, although the percentage of women spending money on their fishing needs is not high, they are leaders in terms of overall sum of money spent on fishing – as many as 45.5 percent of women who spend more than 100 Litas on their fishing needs per year, with the indicator reaching 66.7 percent among housewives.

Picture 9. Spending on fishing by sex per year (2003).

According to the Vilmorus survey conducted in 2003, it was estimated that 0.5 million Lithuanian citizens spend approximately 72 million Litas (approximately 21 million Euros) per year for angling. Are those findings surprising?

This can be estimated based on a comparison with other fields of fisheries. There are about 20 large aquaculture companies (formerly known as pond pisciculture farms) in Lithuania, producing 9-10 million Litas worth of fish annually. The estimated cost of production is seven times lower than the anglers’ spending.

More than 100 companies fish in the Curonian Lagoon, rivers, lakes and other water bodies with the help of commercial fishing gear. They catch approximately 3 million Litas worth of fish per year, which is 24 times less than the spending of Lithuanian anglers.

Approximately the same amount of smaller or bigger companies fish in the Baltic Sea. They catch approximately 24-25 million Litas worth of fish per year, which is 3 times less than spentby Lithuanian anglers.

The income of all commercial fishers working in aquaculture, inland waters and the Baltic Sea put together still amounts to merely half of the money circulating in recreational fishing.

The angling-related field has enormous growth potential – about 1.5 million Lithuanian people go angling at least once in a while, according to the 2002 survey. The main obstacles for them to become regular anglers are, among other factors, poor economic situation and inadequate fishing conditions. Improvement of these factors is expected to lead to a rise in the number of anglers and their spending on fishing needs.

Meanwhile, the main barrier for the development of recreational fisheries still is illegal fishing, which mostly affects the fish stocks of small water bodies. Asurvey conducted in 2004 indicates that Lithuanian citizens had severely breached fishing regulations on up to 0,7 millionoccasions per year.

The 2004 survey addressed the scope of the following groups of violations:

1. Fishing without permits;
2. Catching of a bigger amount of fish than allowed;
3. Fishing in prohibited locations or at prohibited times;
4. Fishing with banned equipment;
5. Unlawful parking of vehicles on coastlines of water bodies or unlawful driving of vehicles on the coastlines;
6. Washing of vehicles near or in water bodies;
7. Making of fires in inappropriate locations near water bodies;
8. Littering and polluting of waters and locations near them.

According to the results of the survey, fishing regulations were violated in the 8 abovementioned ways on 4,862,565 occasions over the year. The survey cannot be considered as highly precise. Sociologists have noted years ago that people tend to lie when asked about disgraceful issues. If an activity is seen as not fully acceptable, respondents are likely to varnish such data. Poaching is not listed as a virtue, so the actual figures referring to violations of fishing regulations may be even bigger.

As a rule, young people under the age of 29, especially pupils and students, are more likely to breach fishing rules than the older population.

Picture 10. Age indicators of fishing population who have breached fishing rules (2004).

This implies that failure to take efficient measures might lead to yet higher number of violations in the sector. According to the data published in Lithuanian media, environmental agencies solved 4,462 violations of fishing rules in 2003 and imposed fines of 183 Litas (approx 53 Euros) on an average.

A comparison of the survey’s data with results provided by fisheries agencies, merely 1 or 0.1 percent of 1,000 violations of fisheries regulations are solved in the country. Surveys conducted by environment agencies a decade ago showed that the levels of violations solved were between 2 and 8 percent at that time.

Future of Recreational Fisheries

All abovementioned figures indicate that the current polarisation of freshwater fisheries towards small-sized commercial fishing has no future and might doom anglers to years of poverty and despair.

One of the ways out is the redirection of the industry branch towards recreational fisheries and fishing tourism. Many people in Lithuania relate their leisure pastime with angling,at least to a certain extent. In a number of countries, the branch of industry is listed as state priority and granted relevant funding, mainly due to altered public interest and an enormous economic effect. The increase in the popularity of angling makes possible the development of an entire specialised infrastructure.

In Lithuania, changes in the situation are rather slow, with virtually all financial assistance from the state going to commercial fisheries and pond pisciculture. Approximately 10-12 million Litas (approximately 2.9-3.5 million Euros) are available for the purpose granted by the European Union. During the past 5 years, several million Litas have been allocated to pond pisciculture companies to assist them in dealing with diseases and after-effects of drought. Fish diseases and drought harms can be seen for anglers as well, however, angler organisations have so far received no financial aid for the purpose. They also have little possibilities to get support for the creation of ecological fisheries. The Lithuanian State Pisciculture and Fisheries Research Centre breeds many fish, however, raises no specific objects for recreational fishing (grayling, brown trout, etc.) because the institution’s bylaws still stipulate it should restore fish with commercial value. Insufficient pisciculture and fish-protection efforts have led to impoverished stock of fish in most water bodies, which, as a result, lost their appeal to anglers. All these reasons are main factors hindering the development of recreational fisheries market.

The collected data convinced the governmental institutions to pay attention to those problems as well. The Law on Angling have been approved in 2004. It should be noted that angling has priority against commercial fishing, as emphasized in the law. To evaluate and develop regulations on angling, there was a Board of Angling Development established from governmental and non-governmental organisations. These steps are expected to forma new perspective for the development of recreational fisheries in Lithuania.

[1]The survey “Money Spent on Fishing” was conducted by a market research company Vilmorus for “Žuvininkų Rūmai” (The Chamber of Pisciculturists).