Source and methods of data collection

Data on catches and production of sea and freshwater fish and other sea organisms as well as the data on fishermen, vessels and equipment and the data on values and quantities of sold goods were taken over from the Directory of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture, in line with the Co-operation Agreement.

The Directorate of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture, as the producer of official statistics on fisheries, collects the necessary data and then processes and forwards them to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics according to the previously arranged deadline and in the form suitable for further use.

Until 2007, data were obtained on regular reports, while, since 2008, they have been taken over from the records of the Ministry of Agriculture – the Directorate of Fisheries.

Data on catches and production of sea fish are given by major groups through presentation of the total unloaded catch weight, irrespective of the catching area.

Data on crustaceans and shellfish refer both to edible and non-edible catch weight.

Coverage and comparability

Reporting units are legal entities and parts thereof as well as individual fishermen who are engaged in commercial maritime and freshwater fishing, small coastal fishing or in the production of sea fish and other sea organisms according to the records of the Directory of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture on issued licences.

Due to the fact that a transportation document, which prescribes recording of quantities of sea organisms by species, was introduced in 2016, mixed small pelagic fish has not been allowed to be recorded in records of catches since that same year. This resulted in significant decrease in recording of mixed small pelagic fish catches compared to previous periods, but these catches were recorded by species.

Since 2018, data on the production of milt have been collected in line with the Ordinance on statistical data collection on aquaculture (NN, No. 13/19) and expressed in the number of pieces, which is why they are not comparable to data from previous years. Pursuant to the same Ordinance, data on the quantities of food and fertilizers consumed in fishponds have no longer been collected.

Pursuant to the records of the Directory of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture, the group of organisms that includes oysters and other molluscs and shellfish has been divided into two groups, entitled Shellfish and Molluscs. The changes apply to data that refer to the period from 2018 onwards.

Since 2018, data on vessels have been harmonised with the new Maritime Code (NN, No 17/19).

Definitions

Commercial fishing is an activity of catches of sea fish and other sea organisms for making profit.

Caught quantities are quantities of unloaded fresh fish, crustaceans, shellfish and molluscs, i.e. actual catch minus quantities thrown away for no matter what reason from the moment of pulling out from the sea until loading.

Ship, with the exception of warship, is any waterborne craft intended for navigation at sea, exceeding 15 m in length, or one authorised to carry more than 12 passengers. A ship may be a passenger, cargo or technical waterborne craft, or fishing, public or a scientific research ship.

Fishing boat is intended and equipped for catching fish and other organisms in the sea or on the seabed.

Boat is a waterborne craft intended for navigation at sea, which is authorised to carry no more than
12 passengers, the length of which is more than 2.5 metres and less than or equal to 15 metres, or the total power of its propulsion engines is greater than 5 kW.

According to the Act on Maritime Fishing (NN, No. 62/17) and related legislature, the most important groups of fishing gears are trawl nets, purse seine nets, drift nets and (single and triple) gillnets.

Trawl nets are benthic trawl net, pelagic trawl net, coastal trawl net, dredges for Noah’s ark and dredges.

Purse seine nets are purse seine for small pelagic fish, purse seine for great pelagic fish, purse seine for mullets, purse seine for needlefish and purse seine for smelt.

Drift nets are drift net for sardines, drift net for picarels, motion drift net, drift net for needlefish, drift net for amberjack, drift net for smelt, drift net for with trap and drift net with frightening rope.

Single gillnets are gillnet for sandsmelt, gillnet for smelt, gillnet for picarel (Spicara smaris), gillnet for sardines, gillnet for picarel (Spicara flexuosa), gillnet for cacckarel, gillnet for bogue, gillnet for various fish, gillnet for Atlantic bonito, gillnet for sharks, gillnet for lobsters, gillnet for angle shark and gillnet for sea spider. Triple gillnets are gillnet for salema, triple gillnet for various fish, gillnet for solea and gillnet for cuttlefish.

Exploited fishpond area (area under fish production) in the course of the reference year is considered to be a productive water area used in the previous year. It is almost always either smaller than the total productive water area or equals it, taking into account that not all of fishing facilities for fish production are used during a year.