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Date Published: 15/12/2021
ARCHIVED - Spain has its own fishing row with EU
It was the only EU country to oppose 2022 fishing restrictions, but wildlife groups in Spain say new fishing quotas don’t go far enough
It was decided this week that fishing quotas in the Atlantic are to be reduced and the number of days fishermen are allowed to work in the Mediterranean for 2022 will be cut.
Spain’s Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Planas, had no choice but to accept the cuts in fishing quotas for hake, but was the only representative of any country to vote against the reduction of fishing efforts in the Mediterranean.
The reduction in the number of days that trawlers will be able to fish in the Mediterranean by 6% (on top of a 17% reduction over the past two years) was the reason that Spain did not endorse the EU agreement, but it will be obligatory for them to follow in any case.
Coastal communities could be hard hit by fishing quotas
For countries like Spain and France, the stakes are high for fishing quotas. Spain is facing cuts for the third year in a row. In southern hake, the most consumed fish in Spain, the proposed reduction was 18.5% but this quota has finally been reduced by 8%, while the cut in the amount of sole that can be caught has been reduced to 5%.
“It is necessary to preserve fish stocks and also the economy of fishing villages and the way of life of their inhabitants,” Planas said.
The difficult balance between the sustainability of fisheries and the economic impact that cuts could have on coastal areas like Cádiz and Galicia are always the hot points of the debate.
Spain opposed the European agreement to reduce fishing days because “Supporting this proposal would mean letting our fishermen down and leaving the future and economic livelihood of coastal areas and the population that depends on their activity adrift.”
Fish stocks and marine life still suffer from overfishing
For environmental groups, the risk of overfishing is very present, especially in the Mediterranean.
Javier López, a marine scientist with Oceana, said, “Oceana regrets that fisheries ministers have missed the opportunity to ensure the sustainable exploitation of fish stocks in EU waters and have instead decided to exceed the scientific advice for Atlantic fish stocks by 35% and have not been ambitious enough in reducing the fishing effort in the Mediterranean.”
Fish species living near the bottom of the sea are “in a precarious situation”, as recognised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ management plan in May 2020, most of them due to overfishing.
What’s more, some of the most commercially valuable species have been overfished at up to ten times the sustainable value, according to Oceana. These include such popular varieties as hake, but also white and red shrimp, Norway lobster, red mullet and red prawns.
“Scientists have already sounded the alarm: none of the management scenarios evaluated for 2022 will put an end to overfishing by 2025 as promised,” several environmental organisations including Ecologistas en Acción, WWF and Oceana have warned in a joint statement.
According to their analysis, a “drastic reduction” in trawl fishing is needed to “not endanger the future of Mediterranean fisheries”. Their fear is that overfishing will lead to the collapse of stocks, with fish numbers becoming excessively depleted by indiscriminate raking of the oceans using huge trawler nets.
Technical estimates called for reductions in catches for the species most targeted by trawlers of 74% on hake shoals, 57-90% for Norway lobster, 36% for white shrimp or up to 58% for red shrimp, but the real reductions agreed to by the EU this week fall far short of what’s needed.
For Cecilia del Castillo Moro of Ecologistas en Acción, “the economic interests of the industry are still being prioritised over the management of public resources, while a long-term vision is needed to ensure future fisheries that guarantee healthy fish stocks and marine ecosystems and thriving coastal communities.”
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