The review notes that herring and sprat are the mainstay of Latvian harvests, accounting for almost 90 percent of the total.
Employment in Latvian fisheries has been stable, with the majority of fishers participating in the small coastal fishery, indicates the review.
The review notes that the Fisheries Law has been amended to modify coastal fisheries management by defining all coastal quotas as a percentage of the Latvian total quota for the main regulated species in the Baltic Sea, as well as allowing within the year for unused quota to be transferred from coastal to offshore fisheries.
Other changes include a ban on gillnets on subsistence fisheries in public inland waters, introduction of some limits on fishing in inland waters, and other measures.
The Latvian Fisheries Integrated Control and Information System has been reconstructed to integrate all data from issue of license to data obtained from Fishing Vessel Register, covering whole chain - fishing activities (logbook information), landings, first sales, and others, as well as violations of rules and penalties.
You can read the full OECD report on Latvia's fisheries HERE.
