FARNET
Fisheries Areas Network

Country Factsheet

Poland - 36 FLAGs - 93.7 M€

While sea fisheries in Poland suffer from decreasing fish stocks in the main catching area (the Baltic Sea), inland aquaculture still has significant potential for growth (mainly carp). The use of this potential, along with an increase of fish product consumption, appears to be the main challenge that CLLD has to address. The focus of the 36 Polish FLAGs is more on the fisheries sector and job creation, than on the development of coastal areas in general.

CLLD Programme

CLLD Context: 

Although per capita consumption of fish and seafood is fairly low (22nd position in EU in 2013), in 2014 Poland was the 9th largest importer of fish from outside the EU among the Member States, and also the 12th largest extra-EU exporter in terms of volume.

Sea fisheries products prevail in terms of volume (ca 80% of supply, some 180 000 tonnes), but the importance of inland aquaculture is growing. Carp production plays a major role as Poland is the main European market for live carp, with consumption exceeding 21 000 tonnes (2013). Poland also is the largest producer of smoked salmon in the EU (over 55,000 tonnes in 2013, which accounts for 1/3 of EU production).

The Polish fisheries sector has 7845 full-time equivalent employees (FTE), of which 18% in the marine fisheries, 56% in aquaculture and 26% in inland fisheries. The fish processing sector accounts for another 15 088 FTE (4th in the EU, as of 2015, after Spain; France and UK).

Contact details of the managing authority can be found here.

More information about national EMFF programmes can be found here.

 

Axis 4 achievements (2007-2013): 

In the previous programming period, Poland had a total of 48 FLAGs (9 coastal and 39 inland). The Polish FLAGs supported a very high number of projects (in total approximately 5 500) of which many contributed to creating and maintaining jobs (according to a FARNET study carried out in 2016, each Polish FLAG created on average 87 new jobs and maintained 52 jobs, although these figures are based on estimates and should be treated with care).

A large part of these projects contributed to diversifying fisheries area, upgrading aquaculture production, promoting fisheries areas and valorising their heritage. Polish FLAGs were also quite active in inter-regional cooperation.

CLLD objectives and challenges for 2014-2020: 

While sea fisheries face a biological barrier of fish supply in the main catching area (the Baltic Sea), inland aquaculture still has significant potential of growth. The use of this potential along with an increase of fish product consumption appear to be the main challenges for the sector in the 2014-2020 perspective.

The Polish MA is expecting fisheries CLLD to contribute to the creation of 375 jobs and maintain an additional 375 jobs in fisheries areas, and to help create 110 new businesses.

In 2007-2013, Poland allocated nearly 26% of its EFF budget (€190 million) to CLLD and FLAGs were expected to play an important role in the overall development of fisheries areas, supporting infrastructural investments and a wide range of educational and cultural projects as well as fisheries businesses. In the 2014-2020 period, the CLLD budget is significantly lower (€79.7 million, i.e. 16% of the total EMFF budget) and the focus is more on the fisheries sector and job creation and less on the development of fisheries areas. The number of FLAGs decreased from 48 to 36: most of the coastal areas previously covered by Axis 4 still are included in fisheries CLLD, but there are fewer inland FLAGs, due to a stricter definition (compared to the previous period) of what can be defined as a “fisheries area”. The total area covered by FLAGs has been reduced from 70 000 km2 to 57 900 km2. 

CLLD Budget

Total budget: 
€93 764 704
  • EMFF budget for CLLD: 
    €79 700 000
  • Co-funding: 
    €14 064 700
  • Proportion of CLLD in EMFF budget: 
    16%
Number of FLAGs: 
36
Average budget per FLAG: 
€2 604 580

National Network

The creation of the National Network was envisaged in the OP but it has not been formally launched.  Networking activities are carried out by the Managing Authority, financed from Technical Assistance (TA). An amount of €10 000 per year is earmarked to cover the organisation of one national FLAG meeting; while all the other NN activities will have to be funded from TA on a case-by-case basis.

A bottom-up FLAG network, in the form of six regional networks and a nationwide convention of Polish FLAGs (Konwent Polskich LGR), functioned in 2007-2013 and some of its activities are continuing in the 2014-2020 period. Its primary role is advocacy, and representing the FLAGs in their contacts with the MA, PA, IBs etc.

Polish FLAGs can also benefit from capacity building and other support for CLLD provided by the Polish National Rural Network (KSOW).

Click here for the National Network contact details.

Cooperation

For the EMFF funding period, 84 cooperation projects were reported by the managing authority by December 2021. Most projects focused on diversifying into tourism and promoting local fish products. Some of the more innovative cooperation projects include the transfer of sustainable inland fishing techniques from Finland and a joint educational campaign for children and youth and training for restaurant chefs to promote inland fish consumption between two Polish FLAGs.

For information on how cooperation was programmed and organised in Poland, click here.

Delivery of CLLD

Key actors and roles: 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development acts as the national Managing Authority (MA) and is responsible for designing the delivery procedures, overall monitoring and evaluation and reporting to the EC, while the 16 regional Marshall Offices (intermediate bodies; IBs) are responsible for selecting the F/LAGs, the day-to-day contact with the groups, eligibility checks of projects, and monitoring of F/LAG activities.

The call for F/LAGs was launched in Autumn 2015 (with the deadline of the 31st of December), and the final approval of the FLAGs and the strategies was completed in all regions by May 2016.

As in the previous period, there is at least one FLAG in each of the 16 Polish regions. The highest number of FLAGs were selected by the two regions on the Baltic sea coast, Pomeranian (Pomorskie) and Western Pomeranian (Zachodniopomorskie) – 15 FLAGs in total, of which 9 are coastal. The remaining FLAGs are inland.

Out of the 36 FLAGs in Poland, 24 are mono-fund EMFF, and the remaining 12 are multi-funded (of those, 2 have EMFF as Lead Fund, 9 have EAFRD and 1 has ESF as Lead Fund).

The funding application process: 

The Polish Partnership Agreement (PA) envisages CLLD in  four of the five ESI Funds and opens up the possibility of multi-funded strategies. However, the decision concerning CLLD in the ERDF and ESF was delegated to the regional Intermediate Bodies and only two out of 16 Polish regions have decided to use this option: Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Podlaskie. In these two regions LAGs can potentially use  the four funds in a single strategy. In other regions LAGs can use EAFRD and EMFF at strategy level, and in some regions they may also have access to ERDF and ESF on a project-by-project basis.

The call for Local Development Strategies was harmonised across the Funds, with joint selection bodies in all the regions and common selection criteria. LAGs can use EMFF if they have at least 50 fishermen in the area and total value of fish production at least €300 000 (approximately). However, if the LAG would like to be mono-funded from EMFF, it must have at least 70 fishermen and fish production of around €600 000 minimum. For multi-funded LAGs there are provisions for lead fund, with a formula which ensures a fair distribution of running costs between all Funds.

A significant effort was made to simplify the delivery of CLLD and delegate more functions to the LAGs. A number of new instruments such as umbrella projects and Simplified Cost Options have been introduced (the SCO so far only within EAFRD). Some rules on eligibility, project approval and reporting could not be harmonised, and individual projects cannot be multi-funded.

FLAGs

Code Name Region Surface area (km²) Population Population density (per km²) Employment in fisheries*
PL201 Szczecin Lagoon FLAG
West Pomerania
932 65271 7 236
PL202 Western Pomeranian FLAG
West Pomerania
1109 52059 47 343
PL203 Sea and Parseta River FLAG 596 73984 124 708
PL204 Mielno FLAG 1637 65661 40 492
PL205 Darlowo FLAG 1647 67795 41 878
PL206 Drawa and Walcz Leader Partnership FLAG
Pomerania
3286 92005 28 50
PL207 Lake District Leader FLAG
West Pomerania
2616 129463 49 88
PL208 Rural Development Initiative FLAG
West Pomerania
2094 84361 40 92
PL209 Slowinska FLAG
Pomerania
1286 64720 50 3910
PL210 Leba River Basin FLAG
Pomerania
889 71777 81 432
PL211 North Kaszuby FLAG
Pomerania
572 81597 143 1908
PL212 Vistula Spit Fishing Community FLAG
Pomerania
940 67914 73 132
PL213 Kaszuby FLAG
Pomerania
957 92534 97 104
PL214 Bytow Lake District FLAG
Pomerania
2411 90115 37 179
PL215 Morenka FLAG 2936 113668 39 379
PL216 Vistula Lagoon FLAG
Warmia-Masuria
651 34230 53 128
PL217 Great Masurian Lakes FLAG
Warmia-Masuria
1977 55354 28 75
PL218 Masurian Sea FLAG
Warmia-Masuria
2825 86698 29 100
PL219 Suwalki-Augustow Lake District FLAG
Suwalki-Augustow lake District
3481 111119 32 131
PL220 Brodnica Lake District FLAG
Kujawsko-Pomorskie
1017 49523 48 50
PL221 Our Krajna and Paluki FLAG
Kujawsko-Pomorskie
2017 146572 70 49
PL222 Dobiegniew Lake District FLAG 1768 70941 42 113
PL223 Notec River FLAG 1967 77650 40 96
PL224 7 Fish FLAG 1817 115154 62 86
PL225 Good Roe FLAG
Łódź Voivodeship
1396 93400 67 174
PL226 Zegrze Lagoon FLAG 733 95000 130 57
PL227 Valley of Tysmienica and Wieprz FLAG 1920 97703 51 165
PL228 Fruit Trail FLAG 810 61830 76 75
PL229 Roztocze FLAG 2146 102935 48 98
PL230 Sandomierz Forest FLAG
Lublin
1845 148133 80 94
PL231 Swietokrzyska FLAG 2513 145615 58 49
PL232 Carp Valley FLAG 310 56501 184 177
PL233 Jurassic Fish FLAG
Silesia
1101 53345 49 100
PL234 Bielska Land FLAG
Silesia
275 102486 368 696
PL235 Opole Region FLAG
Opole Voivodeship
1522 97857 64 100
PL236 Barycz Valley Partnership FLAG 1662 98097 59 271
(*)according to the information received from the FLAG

Contact details

Organisation Contacts

Ministerstwo Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi
Mr. Szymon Marciniak
+48 22 583 89 23
Poland

Map

Publication date: 
15/12/2021
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