It was seen coming, and finally my worst fears came true. And the European Union (EU) putting on the table a new 12-day cut for trolls has certainly put the industry in the tightrope. The proposal, yes, had the merit of reaching an agreement between the fisheries organizations of the five autonomous communities of the Mediterranean, expressing their unequivocal rejection of this initiative. It will endanger the continuity of a large part of the fleet.. The Generalitat Valenciana Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries also opposed this new cut. It has been proposed without evaluating the effects of the measures that have been implemented in recent years..
The policy of reducing fishing days in Mediterranean waters meant that 130 trawlers in the province of Alicante were able to go fishing this year only 165 of the 240 days they took advantage of just two years ago. A reduction that resulted in a 20% reduction in catch, i.e. 1,800 tonnes less fish, was also narrowing profit margins and jeopardizing the viability of 800 jobs. As the situation is already very complex, the EU plans to change the situation once again with a new 7.5% cut, which in principle will translate to 12 days. Offer will form the basis for discussion of the next Fisheries Ministers Council. With a sector already arming, which will be held in Brussels on the 11th and 12th of this month.
letter to ministry
And the fishing organizations of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Murcia, Andalusia and the Community of Valencia have sent a letter to Alicia Villauriz, the Fisheries General Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in which they describe the impossibility. to assume new constraints. Likewise, in a multi-species fisheries such as the Mediterranean, It is not possible to achieve maximum sustainable yield in all species together. They reiterate the need to delay this target by shifting it from 2025 to 2030, even without assessing the impact of the measures already adopted.
Juan Mulet, secretary of the Provincial Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds of Alicante, underlines this and does not hesitate to state that if the proposal is successful: “half the trawler fleet will have to stop. It’s totally impossible to go fishing for just half a year because there’s no business that can resist it. In addition, the compensation we receive is completely inadequate and the workers are eating away at their unemployment. The truth is that, ultimately, the EU does not respect Mediterranean fishermen.”
Regional Secretary of Agriculture and Fisheries, Roger Llanes, shows his full support for the sector, “because – he points out – even without analyzing the effectiveness of the measures taken, the sector is brought to a stalemate. It has been launched in recent years with the approval of the National Oceanographic Institute”. Llanes recalls that the Spanish ministry voted against such a restriction last year and will defend the industry on this occasion. “The problem – he emphasizes – is that, Brussels treats Mediterranean fishing like it’s industrialwhen what we’re really talking about is the traditional arts”.