Cepesca considers negative the result of the negotiation of TAC and quotas for 2021

SPAIN
Friday, December 18, 2020, 08:00 (GMT + 9)

CEPESCA understand that the European Commission has shown lack of sensitivity in a situation as complicated as the current one due to the Covid-19 crisis

     • Spain will have fewer fishing opportunities for demersal species in 2021 compared to 2020

     • Especially serious is the situation for the Mediterranean fleet

The Spanish fishing sector has expressed its dissatisfaction with the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and fishing quotas established for 2021 and which were released this morning after almost 24 hours of continuous negotiations in the Council of Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries ( Agrifish). According to the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (Cepesca) the result of the negotiation has been negative and understands that the European Commission has shown a lack of sensitivity with fishermen in a situation as complicated as the current one, due to the Covid-19 crisis .

Names of subzones and divisions of FAO Fishing Zones 27 and 37, NORTHEAST ATLANTIC, MEDITERRANEAN AND BLACK SEA (click on image to enlarge)

The final consequence, Cepesca points out, is that the Spanish fishing fleet will have fewer fishing opportunities for demersal species in 2021 than in 2020, despite having managed to reduce the initial proposals for cuts by the European Commission (EC) in species of great interest for Spain. Such is the case of southern hake (Cantabrian, Gulf of Cádiz and Portugal) which sees its catches cut by 5%; sole, which fell 7% in zone VIII ab and 20% in zone VII C, the national fishing ground; Norway lobster from the Gulf of Cádiz (Functional Unit 30), with a reduction of 15% or sea bream (voracious from the Strait), which fell by 20%.

Regarding the Mediterranean, Cepesca regrets that the sector's request not to reduce even one more day of fishing in 2021 has not been taken into account and, although it has partially stopped the initial proposal to reduce the fishing days of the plan of management for the demersal resources of the western Mediterranean from 15% to 7.5%, considers the result a failure and warns of the negative consequences that this new adjustment will have on the fleets that fish in this area.

It should be noted in this regard that both Spain and France have undertaken, before the end of June, to propose measures to improve the selectivity of trawl gear in Mediterranean waters. Both countries will also propose, in mid-February 21, new additional closed areas to reduce the capture of juveniles and spawners in this sea.

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On the other hand, and given that the Brexit negotiations continue to develop, an extension has been established during the first quarter of 2021 of the quotas for the stocks affected by the departure from the United Kingdom (119 stocks out of a total of 146) that makes possible the fishing in that period of 25% of the 2020 TAC and quotas, with some exceptions in horse mackerel, mackerel or blue whiting, for which 65% is assigned due to the seasonality of the catches. This situation keeps the Gran Sol fleet in great uncertainty. In addition, it is highly likely that 25% of the monkfish quota allocated for the first quarter is insufficient for the fleet.

According to CEPESCA's general secretary, Javier Garat, “as a whole, the result is negative. Despite the efforts of Minister Planas and his team during the negotiations and in the absence of defining the TACs of the species shared with the UK, in Spain we will have fewer fishing opportunities in 2021, despite the fact that the vast majority of the stocks of Fish from the Northeast Atlantic are in good biological condition. In the current context, with a brutal economic and health crisis caused by COVID-19, the European Commission has been insensitive to some fishermen and their families who are suffering its consequences ”. With regard to the Mediterranean - Garat ends by saying - and as we already stated to Minister Planas in a manifesto a few days ago, the decisions taken may cause irreversible damage to the inshore fleet, which inexplicably is not loved. solve their problems from a global perspective, taking into account all the factors, not just fishing, that affect the stock situation. "

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