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Anchovy fishery. (Photo: Ifremer)
Anchovy fishery closure surprises Galician fishermen
SPAIN
Monday, September 01, 2014, 23:50 (GMT + 9)
The purse seine fleet engaged in anchovy capture in Galician waters expect to reach an agreement with the local authorities to request the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA) an extension of the fishing quota for this semester, “because the situation is really serious.”
According to a member of the Association of Purse Seiners of Galicia (ACERGA), Andrés García, fishermen expect the Galician Executive to support them in their demand to the General Secretariat of Fisheries that “the commitment of the previous Secretary-General should be met and further quota should be given to Galicia” when the resource becomes available, the newspaper Faro de Vigo informed.
Garcia stressed that, contrary to the sector’s opinion, the government “two years ago granted 88.6 per cent of the anchovy quota of the Gulf of Cadiz.”
“We do not want either to harm anyone or to be harmed,” he pointed out.
MAGRAMA decided to close the anchovy fishery in the southern area of Galicia – from Finisterre to the mouth of the Miño — because the fleet had exceeded 500 per cent of their catch limit of only 75 tonnes, compared with the 6,000 assigned to the fleet of the Gulf of Cadiz, with which it shares the exploitation of the fishing zone IXa-.
The ministry also decided to close the anchovy fishery in the northern area, that is to say, the area VIIIc, from Finisterre to the Bay of Biscay.
Garcia explained that this closure was decided after consuming 10 per cent of the quota allocated for the second half of 2014, from just over 20,000 tonnes available for the fleet of Biscay between July this year and 30 June in 2015.
He ensured that the percentage for the second half was “completely unknown” by the Galician seiner sector.
According to a member of ACERGA, that percentage has been taken in an agreement with Cantabrian Producers’ Organisations (Cantabria, Basque Country and Galicia), but the Galician fishermen had not been consulted before or informed after the agreement was signed.
In a letter sent to MAGRAMA, Galician fishermen will express their disagreement with what had happened with the closure of the anchovy fishery in the north, since they kept fishing after not knowing about the agreement.
Meanwhile, Benito González, representative of the Organization of Artisan Producers of Galicia (OPAGA), expressed the decision to close the fishery was taken because a high percentage of the quota was being consumed and it was feared that in the spring there was not going to be enough.”
Related article:
– Anchovy biomass ‘gradual recovery’ confirmed
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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