Looking for Water - Latvia

While traditional fishery was becoming more and more obsolete, big fishery companies started taking over the Baltic Sea. Young latvian fishermen were now in position to choose to work for bigger companies, which they did because those paid more for their labour. Older people were left out of this recruitment process, for big companies needed young and strong men.

Around 2004, Latvia entered the European Union. Due to the fishing quotas, imposed by the EU, which determine the amount of fish that can be caught inside a country, the latvian fishing branch became smaller. That decrease made business insufficient for everyone and some companies closed, leaving many in unemployement situation. Nowadays traditional fishery is becoming, again, more popular. Those who are unemployed and resourceless have no possibilities of settling their own company and make the investment in big boats in a search for competitiveness. So they went back and now use their small boats again to fish in small amounts and try to sell their catch in the markets and to local shops. These fishermen struggle everyday to make a living in the calm Baltic Sea and they can only get enough to survive another day.