A 40 per cent reduction of the Swedish trawler fleet in western waters by 2015 has been proposed by the Swedish Board of Fisheries.
That reduction of the fleet in the Skagerrak, the Kattegat and the North Sea would equal some 60 vessels.
The process would be carried out through subsidies for scrapping boats and the transferral of kilowatt-days. The kilowatt-days principle measures fishing capacity expressed in engine power in kilowatts, multiplied with number of fishing days at sea. A plan for transferable fishing rights in pelagic fishing, the new rules to be implemented on July 1, was proposed earlier this year. According to that proposal, it will be possible for some vessels to take over allotted quotas from other fishers, thereby improving the profitability of their business. The fisher giving up his right meanwhile has an incitement to scrap his vessel in a financially more acceptable way.
A similar program for the Baltic has already lead to a ten per cent reduction of the Swedish trawler fleet there.
The Board of Fisheries sets the long-term overcapacity of the Swedish trawler fleet in the western waters at 50 per cent, and deems it possible to reduce it by 40 per cent over the next six years. The scrapping program, aimed at keeping fisheries with selective gear and those fishing close to the coasts, includes compensation to be paid out to fishermen over 55.
The cost of the program, financed from both EU and government funds, is estimated at 19.3 million Euros.
“Swedish professional fisheries are facing dramatical change”, the Head of the Board of Fisheries Axel Wenblad said in a press release. “It will be painful for many professional fishermen, but it is necessary in order to create long-term profitability for those who remain”.