Using indicators based on primary fisheries' data for assessing the development of the German Baltic small-scale fishery and reviewing its adaptation potential to changes in resource abundance and management during 2000–09

• We review the development of the German Baltic Small-Scale Fishery during 2000–09.
• We assess the SSF's structural and operational (fleet, catch) characteristics.
• Trends are linked with past changes in fish resource abundance and management.
• Stock decline; TACs changes; technical measures etc. impacted the SSF's development.
• Results provide insight on the adaptation potential of the SSF to past changes.

Despite recent progress in the study of the German Baltic Small-Scale Fishery (SSF), there is still a lack of relevant data and quantitative assessments of the SSF sector's key characteristics (e.g. fleet, catch). Moreover, little insight exists on the impacts of past environmental and management changes on the German Baltic SSF. Using a spatial database developed specifically for the German Baltic SSF sector, we assess the sector's key structural and operational characteristics (vessel numbers, gears, landings and target species) to review its development during the period between 2000–09. We link exhibited trends with changes that took place in the wider Baltic Sea region in fisheries' resource abundance and management, in order to provide insights in the sector's adaptation potential to past changes. Results suggest that the SSF was affected by changes in the abundance and allocation of fishing opportunities (TACs) of major target species (herring and cod) and technical measures for fishing gear. There is also evidence to suggest that the SSF was affected by measures directed to the activity of the Large-Scale Fishery (LSF). We argue that such an approach can provide new insights on the impacts of future management changes or incidents of environmental variability on the SSF sector and is crucial in order to effectively integrate SSFs within policy.