Vessel used to fish mackerel. (Photo: Stock file)

Government seeks to maintain activity of Cantabrian fleet, despite mackerel cut

SPAIN
Wednesday, February 21, 2018, 02:30 (GMT + 9)

The Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs expects to keep the activity of the Cantabrian boats "at the same levels as in previous years", despite the cut in the total allowable catch (TAC) for mackerel.

This was stated by the Secretary of State for the Environment, María García, to the members of the Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the Senate, in response to questions about the reduction of the mackerel quota and its effects on the boats of Galicia, Cantabria, Asturias or the Basque Country, reported EFE.

Garcia recalled that the TAC for Atlantic mackerel for 2018 is 20 percent lower than in 2017. He also pointed out that the decline could have been greater, given that scientists from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) had recommended that it be 36 percent.

The Spanish quota for mackerel is 30,745 tonnes, on a total TAC for all Atlantic countries of 816,797 tonnes.

Garcia stressed that in the negotiation of the TAC, Spain managed to "maintain or raise" quotas for other species of interest to the fleets of minor arts of the Bay of Biscay -ray, horse mackerel and monkfish-, while others, such as anchovy, have remained the same.

"The result is satisfactory and allows to maintain the activity of the fleet at the same levels as in previous years," she said.

Regarding the distribution of the mackerel between the different fleets, García said that the General Secretariat of Fisheries is preparing an order in which it will give more "flexibility" to enable the exchange of quotas.

On the other hand, Spain is pending on the mackerel quota left over from 2017, whose data will be known later this month. The resulting tonnes may be incorporated into the 2018 quotas, when figures for the quantities consumed are sent to the European Commission (EC).

However, the secretary recalled that on the fleet "weighs" the fine still applied by the EC for overfishing of mackerel in 2009 and 2010, and that involves discounts of 18 percent per year or 5,000 tonnes, until 2023.

In the opinion of the socialist senator Antonio Rodríguez Esquerdo, the quota cut for mackerel - which has been estimated at 8,000 tonnes - is a "hard blow" and a "jug of cold water" for Cantabrian boats, especially for artisanal ones.

In this regard, he warned about the risk of mooring for some segments of the fleet (such as the hook), for which the mackerel represents 40 percent of its income and is its only resource, together with the Atlantic bonito.

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