Galicia’s Minister of the Sea Rosa Quintana has welcomed the Pescaenverde certification awarded to the Port of Burela PO’s (OPP-7) demersal longline fleet.
According to the government of Galicia, this is the first longline fishery to obtain the University of Santiago de Compostela’s Pescaenverde ecolabel, and the Burela PO can now use the label to certify the sustainability and low environmental impact of its line-caught hake.
Rosa Quintana stated that this label will contribute to increasing the profitability of the fleet, not least as there is a growing demand for products with a low CO2 emissions level behind them.
The award was made at an event in Burela, attended by Minister of the Sea Rosa Quintana and representatives of the local government based in Lugo.
With this development, the Burela PO joins 30 other Galician fishermen’s associations that already have this Pescaenverde certification, and is the first offshore fishery to be certified.
Rosa Quintana pointed out that the Pescaenverde label is an example of the university, industry and government coming together, as well as a fusion of new and traditional technologies.
The Pescaenverde ecolabel has the scientific support of the Environmental Biotechnology Group (Biogroup) of the University of Santiago de Compostela, which designed software for calculating of the carbon footprint and the energy return rate in relation to the characteristics of the fishery. In 2013, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office approved the registration of the Pescaenverde trademark.
