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Mackerel being unloaded from a fishing vessel. (Photo: Juan Murias)
Mackerel fishery opening ruled out
SPAIN
Friday, March 12, 2010, 01:50 (GMT + 9)
The Secretariat General of Marine Affairs, a dependency of the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs (MARM), informed the fishers of Cantabria that it will not be possible to reopen the mackerel fishery.
The capture of this pelagic resource “cannot be reopened through the attainment of quotas of other Member States, since the total allowable catch (TAC) fixed for the same is distributed amongst a very reduced number of countries that have already commited their quotas,” the Secretariat explained.
The government is responding to the petition of the Fishermen Guilds Federation of Galicia, Asturias, Biscay and Guipuzcoa, which have moored their purse seiner vessels (185 units) to protest the closing of the fishery, the third in importance for the sector after those of anchovy and skipjack tuna.
MARM suspended mackerel fishing for purse seiner vessels after verifying that they had exhausted the entire quota that had been assigned them in 11 days: some 7,500 tonnes.
The fishermen guilds of the north of Spain asked that the purse seiner fleet be allowed to continue fishing mackerel for 15 days more, until the first units of anchovy appear.
They also called for the possibility of transferring quotas from the trawler fleet or from other countries to the purse seiners.
However, the Secretariat stressed that due to the increasing interest of the fleet for mackerel, it is “necessary to establish management mechanisms and, in particular, fix maximum catch limits for the different fleets that target this fishery [through] ... a laborious process of consultation with the sector.”
It also noted that the application of the ministerial order that regulates 2010 campaign quotas “has had a significant influence on the commercial valuation of the species [and] ... the sale price at wholesale has doubled 2009’s numbers, also surpassing those of 2008.”
Related article:
- Galician guilds call for mackerel TAC hike
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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