The Government and the fishing sector agree to ease fisheries control

The central government and the fishing sector have reached an agreement to make the application of the EU fisheries control regulation more flexible. The regulation had sparked a wave of protests by fishermen on Monday, 19th of January, who have now called off the stoppages.

The General Secretariat for Fisheries, fishermen’s guilds and the shipowners’ association Cepesca met this afternoon and, following the meeting, issued a joint statement detailing the terms of the agreement.

The agreements focus on the aspects that had generated the most controversy, namely catch recording and prior notification requirements.

According to the Secretary General of the Spanish Fishing Confederation (Cepesca), Javier Garat, the sector has secured “fundamental” achievements it had been fighting for, such as those related to catch declarations for species amounting to less than 50 kilos.

“This is very important, because with the existing tolerance margin of 20%, the likelihood of inadvertently committing infringements was extremely high,” Garat explained after his meeting with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The fishermen’s guilds also expressed their satisfaction with what had been agreed and announced that they were calling off the stoppages that had taken place across the country on Monday.

According to the president of the guilds, the agreed flexibilities are good news, as the previous scenario implied foreseeable financial penalties for the sector.

For example, regarding the recording of catches per fishing operation, the agreement establishes that the requirement will be considered fulfilled if the information is provided at least once a day, before entering port or at the place of landing.

The sector has also succeeded in modifying the four-hour prior notification requirement; as a result, it will no longer be necessary to give four hours’ notice in advance, in order to avoid unnecessary waiting times.

Hundreds of fishermen travelled to the capital to demonstrate outside the headquarters of the General Secretariat for Fisheries, where the meeting took place.

They arrived by bus from areas such as Andalusia, Asturias and Galicia, stating that the regulation is an “aberration” that makes it difficult for them to carry out their work.

Tension among the demonstrators set the tone of the rally, during which chants such as “We want to work” and “Whoever governs, the seas are not for sale” were repeatedly heard.

Protests against the control regulation spread from the Atlantic and Cantabrian coasts to the Mediterranean.

More than one hundred fishermen in Tarragona gathered outside the Fishermen’s Guild to express their opposition, as did the fleet in Ayamonte (Huelva).

In Almería, the fishing sector called a rally at the fish market, accompanied by a total mooring of the fleet and the closure of the facilities.

In northern Spain, the Basque inshore fleet remained moored, and the fish markets of Pasaia, in Gipuzkoa, and Ondarroa and Bermeo, in Bizkaia, were closed.

In the Valencian Community, between 400 and 500 vessels belonging to the fishermen’s guilds stopped operations in ports across the three provinces in protest.

The Asturian fishing platform also joined the action with a mass stoppage, with most trawlers tied up in port.

Likewise, the entire Cantabrian and Catalan fleets, as well as part of the Canary Islands fleet, took part in a day of protests that also included the closure of fish markets.

The Balearic fleet also gathered at the port of Palma and remained moored as a sign of protest.