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Penalties for fishing violations to become even stricter

Today, amendments to the Fishing Act are on the first reading in the Riigikogu with the main aim of making penalties for serious fishing violations more strict.

”The life of chronic violators will be tougher, the new penalty point system will make the penalties for commercial fishermen stricter, up to repealing the fishing licence for good,” the Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus-Rosimannus noted. 

For example, fishing with forbidden gear would mean four penalty points that will be imposed on the certificate of the fishing vessel by which the violation was committed. It is possible to receive up to 11 penalty points at a time, for example, when fishing during the forbidden period and leaving undersized fish on the board of the vessel. A certificate will be suspended for 2 months upon collection of 18 points, for 4 months upon collection of 36 points, 8 months upon collection of 54 points and 12 months upon collection of 72 points, and upon a fifth violation, that is, collection of 90 points, the fishing licence is declared repealed and this vessel can no longer be used in fishing. The points will be deleted if the owner of the fishing vessel certificate commits no serious violation in three years.

In addition to determining the number of points, the current Fishing Act also prescribes fines that may be up to 300 fine units for a natural person, that is, up to 1200 euro, and up to 3200 fine units to a legal person, that is, up to 12,800 euro, depending on the violation. A violator also has to compensate for the damages caused to fish resources, calculated on the basis of the number of kilograms of the fish caught, or the number of fish. For example, the damage coefficient of one kilogram of illegally caught Baltic herring is 0.64 euro per kilogram, but for salmon, it is 96 euro per every illegally caught fish, or 16 euro per each kilogram.

Upon serious violations, the abovementioned damage compensation rate will be implemented fivefold and, for example, in fishing with electricity, poison or blasting charges, a ten-fold damage compensation rate is applied.
Faking a document proving fish origin and submitting such a document or false information will be considered a serious violation from now on. The draft Act will also make an amendment according to which recreational fishing without a document that proves the fishing right or without making a mobile payment for the recreational fishing right continues to be a violation that is punished by a fine, but no longer considered a serious violation of fishing requirements.

The possibilities of setting up a quota on Lake Peipus, Lämmijärv and Lake Pskov will also be made more flexible in the Fishing Act. The government will also get a right to set a quota for a fish species by half a year, if necessary. Dividing quota into half years also ensures a more stable income for fishers throughout the year, since in a situation in which most of the quota is exhausted in the first half year, the autumn season will fall short.