Estonian Fishing Association

Estonian Fishing Association is a producer organisation that was founded in 2005. It consists of four trawling companies operating in Estonian waters – Ltd. Hiiu Kalur, LLC. Kaabeltau, LLC. Monistico and LLC Traaler. – and Pärnu Rannakalurid, an organization uniting coastal fishermen in Pärnu.

The building of a new refrigerating plant was completed in spring 2011 in the village of Lemmetsa in Pärnu County. The plant provides storage for up to 3200 tons of frozen fish and can freeze up to 200 tons of fish in 24-hour period. Logistically, the location of the plant is extremely favorable.

The members of the cooperative hold 40% of the historical sprat-fishing rights issued in Estonia and 40% of the Baltic herring-fishing rights. Additionally, coastal fishermen in Pärnu fish around 2000 tons of Baltic herring each year. The trawling companies own altogether 10 trawlers, while the coastal fishermen in Pärnu own more than 40 boats. The members also have two trawlers based in Finland fishing the Finnish quota and one vessel fishing under the Lithuanian flag. All this ensures that the plant has a constant supply of the fish needed. The main target markets for the sprats and Baltic herring are Ukraine, Poland, Latvia and other EU countries.