Jul
8
Octopus fisheries. (Photo: Fanequeiro)
Octopus fishermen resume activities after agreement with the Xunta
SPAIN
Monday, July 08, 2013, 23:30 (GMT + 9)
The Ministry of Rural and Marine affairs of the Xunta de Galicia and the octopus fleet reached an agreement on the implementation of the management plan of the cephalopod for this season, which began last Monday.
Last Friday, the octopus fishermen industry accepted the mandatory use “without exception” of seals to identify the remaining baskets in the sea, a system with which the Galician Administration expects to control octopus overfishing.
Meanwhile, the local government agreed to modify the basket placing areas where workers can leave their gear for a whole week. This implies that the baskets will have to be collected over the weekend in the area stretching from Sillero Cape to Con de Aguieira while initially it had been until Corrubedo.
The gear must be removed daily in the areas where the surface is less than 25 metres, official sources explained.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Marine Affairs, Rosa Quintana; Secretary General of Marine Affairs, Juan Maneiro; Deputy Director General of the Coast Guard, Lino Sexto; and the octopus sector.
Quintana highlighted that the agreement that has been achieved shows that both the regional government and the industry “do not mind spending hours sitting, discussing and working together to make improvements” for the octopus fishermen, the Xunta de Galicia reported.
This weekend, about 70 Galician fishermen protested in Vilagarcía to report the sector is being doomed to “scrapping” while Chinese and Mauritanian octopus enter at bargain prices.
The protest has been joined by sailors from the cephalopod fleet affected by the termination of the fisheries agreement with Mauritania and by members of the CIG, who halted a foreign octopus landing in that port of Pontevedra.
According to Xabier Aboi, who is responsible for the CIG-Mar, the intention was to “make it clear to the Administration that the Galician sector can not be doomed to scrapping and mooring while the Chinese and Mauritanian octopus continues entering via intermediaries at a price that is sinking the market,” the agency Europa Press reported.
This Monday the fishermen from Aldán and Bueu will return to the sea after a month and a half long closure and a week long protest, published the newspaper Faro de Vigo.
Related article:
– Octopus management plan ‘rigour and responsibility’ highlighted
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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