The European Commission (EC) has decided to fine the Spanish fishing fleet after last year its vessels exceeded the total allowable catch (TAC) of horse mackerel, monkfish and blue whiting in national fishing grounds.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MARM) reported that this measure represents the decline in fishing opportunities for these three resources during the 2012 season. According to several representatives of the vessels of Galicia, the fishery that recorded the highest surplus in 2011 was that of horse mackerel. For these vessels, Brussels’ sanction will imply a cut of "about 11,000 tonnes" in the TAC this year, which exceeded 60,000 tonnes.

With respect to blue whiting and to monkfish, the general secretary of the shipowners’ association from A Coruña PescaGalicia, Torcuato Teixeira, said that "the excesses in these resources were lower so quota reductions will be less important than those of horse mackerel."

For mackerel, as the consumption of the TAC varied slightly over the limit set by the EC, fishermen expect they will not be penalised or if they are, they hope the sanction is minimal. Regarding the hake quota in Iberian waters, MARM indicated that 7 per cent of the quota allocated to Spain in 2011 was not caught so it will be added to the fishing opportunities this year.

The government also announced that in the coming days the various fleet types – trawling, purse seine, small scale, coastal – affected by the current situation will receive the exact figures of overfishing in the case of the different species, the cuts and the corresponding fines.

"The technicians have to analyze the segments that were exceeded and in what percentage and then communicate the sanction and the exact cut that every type of vessel will have in the 2012 quota," pointed out Teixeira.

In January, MARM reserved 40 per cent of horse mackerel TAC allocated to the trawling fleet of the coast, 25 per cent of the hake, monkfish, blue whiting, megrim and crayfish TACs, and 2 per cent of the mackerel TAC, the newspaper Faro Vigo reported.

"The quotas that Spain has are scarce and that means there is overfishing and that we are penalized even though the resources are in good condition. None of this makes sense. It is the stripped weakfish biting its tail: few quotas resulting in overfishing, overfishing resulting in fines, the sanction resulting in fewer possibilities of catching fish the following year and the cycle starts again," regretted the general secretary of PescaGalicia.

The President of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Genaro Amigo, said in remarks quoted by La Opinion, "The quota is minimal and purse seine boats have to escape from the mackerel, but still this species is caught together with other species. A lot of work is lost and the dead fish returns to sea. Sometimes they break the fishing gear and in the end, the catches cannot be kept."

FIS