Jan
28
President of the Galician government, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo,(Photo: Certo Xornal/CC BY 2.0)
Galician Government stops Aquaculture Act discussion
SPAIN
Thursday, January 28, 2016, 22:30 (GMT + 9)
The president of the Galician government, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, said yesterday that the Xunta will make a “stop” in the discussion of the Aquaculture Act, because “it won’t be approved without the support of the sector.”
“We will stop this Act until the industry understands it is made for them, to give them guarantees to enable them to obtain European funds and so they can protect themselves from companies that want to speculate and do not want to create jobs,” the Galician president said.
Speaking at the plenary session of the Parliament of Galicia, Feijoo said the Xunta would immediately open dialogue tables with bateeiros (mussel growers), with people of the shellfish sector and the guilds, because the Aquaculture Act “is born just to support the sector” and its approval must have their support.
“Until the industry understands that this Act is a sector Act, it won’t be approved,” he said.
The head of the Galician government explained that the Aquaculture Bill has three objectives: To consolidate and enhance Galician aquaculture, prepare it for the globalized world to export, and stabilize and give legal certainty to the 5,400 families making a living on the seafood sector in Galicia.
He stressed that, with this legislation, the regional government seeks “an excellent use of resources”, as it understands that it is “possible for more families to live from aquaculture, shellfish and inshore activities.”
Feijoo highlighted that the new text comes from the Galician Aquaculture Strategy that the regional government approved in 2012 without arguments, and the document submitted to the EU and the Committee of Regions adopted unanimously, considering that Galicia is an ideal place for this activity and that the legislation is correct.
In this line, he said that when the existing project during the bipartisan government was about to annul the concessions to mussel growers and bring them to competition and publicity, the Xunta extended them to 30 years and now this new Act extends them up to 50 years.
Meanwhile, the head of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Rosa Quintana, regretted the lack of rigor of the demagogue opposition criticizing now what they defended in the Master Plan allegations two years ago.
Quintana called paradoxical that a deputy from Galician Left Alternative (AGE) defend the opposite of what he requested two years ago in connection with the Aquaculture Act draft.
The Minister addressed the caucus representative in the House of Parliament to remind him that he himself had signed an allegation to the Director of Coastal Aquaculture Plan (PDAL), which advocated an aquaculture production model based on herbivorous species, shellfish and seaweed with an integrated multi-trophic approach, “exactly what is in the text of the Galician Aquaculture Act draft now.”
She also emphasized that the draft came from the Galician Aquaculture Strategy approved by the regional government in 2012, “to which he did not present any argument, despite public exposure for eight months.”
Quintana reiterated that the bill covers certain existing loopholes in the regulation currently in force, “to avoid those holes with which you are frightening and misleading people.”
She pointed out her department will stop the draft process to improve the text and consensus with the sector.
In addition, the Minister said in her speech that multinational companies were able to exploit the production areas with the current legislation in force but did not.
In this regard, she said that today it is possible to install fish cages and other infrastructure for intensive aquaculture and cited the granting in 2008 of a temporary authorization for experimental salmon farming in Ria de Arousa. Therefore, she said that it is false that the draft aims at entering this possibility.
Finally, Quintana gave an example of aquaculture taking place in Norway, Scotland and Alaska, where compatibility between fisheries and aquaculture is a fact and the quality of waters and tourism activities did not fall despite developing an important industry in this field.
Related article:
– Galician Aquaculture Act faces growing criticism
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