Berliner Boersenzeitung - Life after cod: Latvia reinvents its coastal communities

EUR -
AED 4.264418
AFN 80.109433
ALL 97.118356
AMD 445.339844
ANG 2.077856
AOA 1064.644276
ARS 1533.975954
AUD 1.782246
AWG 2.089815
AZN 1.977146
BAM 1.950363
BBD 2.345223
BDT 141.116612
BGN 1.956137
BHD 0.437647
BIF 3424.975012
BMD 1.161008
BND 1.492378
BOB 8.054754
BRL 6.324248
BSD 1.161477
BTN 101.799722
BWP 15.627838
BYN 3.824936
BYR 22755.76618
BZD 2.333156
CAD 1.599968
CDF 3355.314944
CHF 0.943325
CLF 0.028691
CLP 1125.620912
CNY 8.345561
CNH 8.35356
COP 4677.70316
CRC 587.370188
CUC 1.161008
CUP 30.766725
CVE 110.73117
CZK 24.474757
DJF 206.334472
DKK 7.463567
DOP 70.944064
DZD 150.999548
EGP 56.298116
ERN 17.415127
ETB 162.018969
FJD 2.619698
FKP 0.863309
GBP 0.864469
GEL 3.131749
GGP 0.863309
GHS 12.219615
GIP 0.863309
GMD 84.175527
GNF 10071.748491
GTQ 8.911388
GYD 242.949013
HKD 9.113876
HNL 30.465073
HRK 7.534366
HTG 152.097964
HUF 395.926925
IDR 18925.425058
ILS 3.964043
IMP 0.863309
INR 101.739754
IQD 1521.597589
IRR 48907.481873
ISK 142.79234
JEP 0.863309
JMD 185.961598
JOD 0.823168
JPY 171.841448
KES 150.346723
KGS 101.505
KHR 4652.160551
KMF 492.412706
KPW 1044.907751
KRW 1616.855234
KWD 0.354978
KYD 0.967927
KZT 631.062541
LAK 25077.782801
LBP 103968.309236
LKR 349.320718
LRD 233.94958
LSL 20.619266
LTL 3.428156
LVL 0.702283
LYD 6.298505
MAD 10.518161
MDL 19.478204
MGA 5149.0729
MKD 61.368923
MMK 2437.279889
MNT 4172.278399
MOP 9.391662
MRU 46.317561
MUR 52.686927
MVR 17.887229
MWK 2016.076298
MXN 21.673752
MYR 4.915124
MZN 74.257814
NAD 20.619848
NGN 1780.963349
NIO 42.740852
NOK 11.880524
NPR 162.876058
NZD 1.955679
OMR 0.446336
PAB 1.161492
PEN 4.097193
PGK 4.815169
PHP 66.33596
PKR 329.726733
PLN 4.2589
PYG 8699.747877
QAR 4.226652
RON 5.065826
RSD 117.138422
RUB 92.300547
RWF 1676.496243
SAR 4.357052
SBD 9.555787
SCR 16.91619
SDG 697.188494
SEK 11.19027
SGD 1.494206
SHP 0.91237
SLE 26.877113
SLL 24345.771874
SOS 663.506526
SRD 43.432893
STD 24030.53144
STN 24.787531
SVC 10.162713
SYP 15095.16706
SZL 20.619108
THB 37.693882
TJS 10.819418
TMT 4.07514
TND 3.352122
TOP 2.719203
TRY 47.257939
TTD 7.883228
TWD 34.800108
TZS 2919.935879
UAH 48.163166
UGX 4138.463284
USD 1.161008
UYU 46.520316
UZS 14656.571491
VES 152.045925
VND 30456.735419
VUV 138.625746
WST 3.08122
XAF 654.15034
XAG 0.03072
XAU 0.000346
XCD 3.137683
XCG 2.093337
XDR 0.813218
XOF 653.070062
XPF 119.331742
YER 278.961288
ZAR 20.602781
ZMK 10450.462448
ZMW 27.005415
ZWL 373.844256
  • CMSC

    0.0600

    23.11

    +0.26%

  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • AZN

    0.3350

    73.87

    +0.45%

  • SCS

    -0.0110

    15.869

    -0.07%

  • NGG

    0.1900

    71.2

    +0.27%

  • CMSD

    -0.0200

    23.56

    -0.08%

  • GSK

    0.0350

    37.835

    +0.09%

  • RIO

    -0.0650

    61.795

    -0.11%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    14.34

    -0.07%

  • BCC

    -1.4600

    80.63

    -1.81%

  • BCE

    0.1300

    24.48

    +0.53%

  • JRI

    -0.0150

    13.42

    -0.11%

  • RBGPF

    4.1600

    76

    +5.47%

  • RELX

    -0.0150

    47.985

    -0.03%

  • BP

    -0.1700

    33.97

    -0.5%

  • VOD

    0.1250

    11.485

    +1.09%

  • BTI

    0.9950

    58.235

    +1.71%

Life after cod: Latvia reinvents its coastal communities
Life after cod: Latvia reinvents its coastal communities / Photo: Gints Ivuskans - AFP

Life after cod: Latvia reinvents its coastal communities

Fishers do not usually wish for a "perfect storm". But Latvian boating communities are hoping for exactly that: a rare tempest that might, one day, revive waning stocks of Baltic cod.

Text size:

Decreasing salinity in the Baltic Sea is robbing the saltwater fish of the conditions it needs to thrive.

And as its population shrinks, so do the fishing traditions that have long characterised villages along Latvia's 494-kilometre (307-mile) coastline.

The result for the communities in this small EU nation is a drive to reinvent themselves, to survive.

With the European Union steadily cutting allowable catches of Baltic cod, and moving towards a total ban to replenish stocks, towns and villages are diversifying into tourism and seafood processing.

"We launched a new marina for yachting, offered services for sea travellers, and a French investor opened a brand new shipyard for yacht building," Agris Stulbergs, harbourmaster for the port in the village of Engure, explained to AFP.

Leisure boating has become a favoured activity in this village, located just 50 kilometres from the capital Riga, and others.

Farther west, in the port city of Ventspils, Juris Petersons, a lifelong seaman, reminisced how Latvian fishers used to bring in lavish hauls of fish highly valued in kitchens from Russia to Britain.

"Back in the mid-80s the Latvian fishing fleet brought in 55,000 tons of Baltic cod, in addition to salmon, herring and many other saltwater fish," he said.

Now "the environmental conditions have become so unfavourable to cod growth that Latvian fishermen are allowed to catch just 16 tonnes of cod a year," he said.

"And even that amounts only to the accidental by-catch when we fish for herring," said Petersons, an industrial fishing boat skipper until he sold off his trawlers last year.

The Baltic Sea is fed by a number of large freshwater rivers. It is connected with the North Sea only through the shallow Danish straits, preventing Atlantic saltwater from entering the Baltic basin.

- Rare storm needed -

In order to recover, the cod population would need a rare seastorm, with just the right windspeed at the correct angle to push masses of saltwater into the Baltic Sea.

That "happened at least twice during the previous century, but currently we're waiting for that perfect storm for the third decade", Petersons said.

Given the smaller yield, many in the industry have focused on quality over quantity.

"All the fish canning companies... have either gone out of business or turned their production lines into making more valuable export-grade products," said Janis Megnis, chief of the Roja port administration.

Their high quality herring and anchovy products "can be found today from Walmart in the United States to stores in Australia and Japan", he said.

Political changes have also affected the industry.

Historically Latvia's fish processing industry mainly served markets in Russia and Belarus.

But with the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, followed by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the resulting Western sanctions, Latvian fishing companies have been forced to seek other markets.

The biggest importers today are Canada, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Denmark and the UK, according to the agriculture ministry.

New markets include Arab countries and South Africa.

- Tourists courted -

Many families in Latvia's coastal towns have also turned their former fisheries into guesthouses and vacation destinations or switched from selling raw fish to the more lucrative smoked, prepared and spiced varieties.

"My husband is a fifth-generation fisherman: he goes out to sea for fish, which we then smoke and turn into high-end products," said Iveta Celkarte, who runs a fishing estate in Berzciems village.

"We also have a family cafe... serving our own seafood," said Celkarte, who has also become a television and social media personality.

Celkarte offers three-hour tours about the history of traditional fishing, taking visitors on a stroll through dunes to the shore and finishing with a special meal.

"For me it is important to tell people about the traditions of our coast, the history of fishing and the life of previous generations working on the sea" she said.

Aivars Lembergs, a former mayor of Ventspils, said he began turning his city into a manufacturing hub and developing tourism has been key, and is paying off.

The city is seeing many tourists coming in from neighbouring Lithuania.

"During summers you'll sometimes see more Lithuanians on the streets of Ventspils than Latvians, as Lithuania has a very short Baltic coastline, and their tourists come here to enjoy the short Baltic summer," said Lembergs, who was mayor between 1988 and 2021.

(F.Schuster--BBZ)