Nov
16
ACERGA members question the distribution of the quotas allocated to Spain based on historical criteria. (Photo: Gerard Benavides/CC BY-SA 4.0)
Thousands of seine fishermen in Santiago demand a fair quota allocation
SPAIN
Monday, November 16, 2015, 23:10 (GMT + 9)
Last Sunday in Santiago de Compostela, a massive group of fishermen from Galicia, accompanied by family members and political representatives, demanded “a fair and equal fishing quota allocation to the Northwest Cantabrian fleet to ensure the future viability of the Galician seine sector and equal rights for all fishermen to have “equal rights”.
The demonstration, in which over 2,000 people participated, according to estimates from the local Police force, was organised by the Association of Purse Ship Owners Siege of Galicia (ACERGA), an organization that represents 80 per cent of the Galician purse seine fleet (120 of the 150 existing purse seiners).
Convened under the slogan “a fair distribution of fishing quotas for all”, the protesters from various coastal towns of Galicia, expressed criticism of the president of the Xunta, Alberto Nunez Feijoo and the head of the Undersecretary of Marine Affairs, Rosa Quintana, accusing them of betraying the Galician fishing sector.
“The quota belongs to all,” stressed the president of ACERGA, Juan Jose Blanco, who criticized the current distribution of the quota allocated to Spain by Brussels based on historical criteria.
The association believes that this way of distributing quotas contributes for ships with fewer crew members (as in the case of the Basques) to fish more than the Galician ones.
Blanco argues that the state government has “sufficient quota” to find “a way to give” workload to those fishermen who, to this day, “have almost nothing,” reported La Opinion.
“There are marginalized people, who had 6,000 kilos daily and who now receive 6000 for the whole year, and we can not tolerate this,” complained the leader.
Therefore, shipowners represented by ACERGA ask the Galician Government to carry out a new quota distribution of the “linear” quotas, per boat and per crew member.
After touring the streets of Santiago, the demonstrators stopped near the administrative building of the regional government in San Caetano, an area where the sailors have set a camping site for nearly a month.
editorial@fis.com
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