Pavilosta is a port city in the west of Latvia at the mouth of the Saka River in the Baltic Sea, 240 km from Riga (180 km in a straight line), 54 km (40 km) north of Liepaja, 70 km (60 km) south of Ventspils and 80 nautical miles ( about 150 km) east of the island of Gotland. Pavilosta district center. Pāvilosta port is one of the smallest ports in Latvia.
Pāvilosta is located on the site of the ancient
Curonian port of Piemare Saka, which was first mentioned in the
agreement of April 4, 1253, concluded by the Bishop of Kurzeme
Heinrich and the master of the Livonian Order. After that, it
reached the territory of the diocese of Kurzeme, but from 1795 the
port of Sackenhausen was in the territory of the province of
Kurzeme.
On May 16, 1879, Otto Friedrich von Lilienfeld, the
owner of the river manor, wanted to build a harbor, laid the
foundation stone of the pilot house in a solemn ceremony at the
mouth of the Saka River, and on the same day Paul von Lilienfeld,
(Павел Лилиенфелд) on Paulshafen or Pāvilosta. O. Lilienfeld leased
building plots in the territory of the next town, but his building
plan was slowly implemented at first. Only ten houses were built in
ten years. The port was used only by a few fishermen, three small
sailors of the manor and a tugboat, which supplied the goods of
Upesmuiža to the Liepāja market.
The development of Pāvilosta
was given a new impetus by the commencement of the construction of
the Liepāja War Port in 1893. The stones necessary for construction
were transported from the Pāvilosta area to Liepāja by sea. The
mouth of the Saka River was adapted for stone handling, and port
builders, workers, loaders, sailors, carpenters and merchants came
to Pāvilosta from near and far. When the stones were no longer
transported, shipping, fishing, trade and shipbuilding had already
developed in Pāvilosta.
Before the First World War, there
were three shipyards in Pāvilosta, where small sailing ships were
built - single-masted "firewood jacks", as well as two-masted
gaffons for further voyages. During this time, 15 ships were built
in Pāvilosta. After the war, shipbuilding was not resumed. During
World War II, Pāvilosta's motorboats and ships were sunk, sold and
confiscated. After the war, only 2 out of 26 motorboats and 4 out of
26 sailboats remained in Pāvilosta. The port trade slowed down. The
main users of the port and the economic basis of the village became
fishermen, whose catches were sold by the collectors and the
fishermen's cooperative founded in 1930 in Aizpute, Skrunda and
Saldus.
In 1940, at the beginning of the Soviet occupation,
fishermen were forcibly united into an artel, which in 1947 was
given the name "Amber Sea". 1944/1945. In the 1930s, with the
proliferation of re - Soviet rule, several fishermen fled to Sweden
in motorboats with their families and friends. Until 1949, when
Artel bought the first fishing vessels, fishing in Pāvilosta was
done by motorboats. In 1951, the artel became a fishing collective
farm "Dzintarjūra", which in 1975 was added to the Liepāja fishing
collective farm "Bolsheviks", becoming its Pāvilosta branch. At the
end of the 1970s, during the heyday of the collective farm, there
were about 20 fishing trawlers in Pāvilosta. In 1990, the
fishermen's collective farm "Bolsheviks" was renamed the fishermen's
collective farm "Kursa", whose Pāvilosta branch was separated in
1994, establishing a joint stock company "Pāvilosta". Most of the
fishermen not related to the joint-stock company "Pāvilosta" are
currently fishing again with motor boats.
In 2006, the yacht
berth Pāvilosta Marina and a 128-meter-long fishing berth were built
in the port. In 2010, the piers of Pāvilosta port were completely
reconstructed, the historic lighthouses at the ends of the piers
were restored and dredging works were carried out to a depth of 4.5
meters. Currently, the length of the North Pier is 287 meters, the
South Pier - 297.5 meters. In 2011, the guest yacht berth was
reconstructed on the right bank of the Saka River and a 90 m long
multifunctional berth was built, which allows small passenger
ferries to enter Pāvilosta port.