FISHING FLEET

The fleet of fishing boats of Greenland has been built since the 1960's. In 2006, the fleet consisted of 863 vessels. Moreover, there are between 3.000 and 5.000 dinghies, of which one part is used for fishing and hunting while another is used in connection with pound net fishing and the like from fishing boats.

The ocean-going fleet includes a number of large vessels over 75 GRT/120 GT which fish outside the limit of three nautical miles. Most large vessels have the capacity to process the catch onboard. As shown in Table 6, the seagoing fleet is concentrated in central Greenland.

The coastal fleet includes vessels under 75 GRT/120 GT which fish within the limit of three nautical miles. The small vessels under 10 GRT are found mainly in northern Greenland where they primarily partake in fishing for Greenland halibut.

The fishing fleet is owned by private individuals. Trawlers, owned by Royal Greenland Ltd, however, are indirectly publicly owned as Royal Greenland is owned 100 per cent by the Home Rule Government of Greenland / the Government of Greenland. Much of the coastal fleet is financed through business support loans (the so-called ESU loans).

The ocean-going fleet is financed by banks, foreign ship credit schemes and so on. Previously, the expansion of the off-shore fleet was funded through guarantees from the Exchequer but this practice has ceased.