By bringing its board of directors together in Brussels for the first time, Spanish industry federation Cepesca taken its demands close to the political centre where decisions are made. With this meeting Cepesca focused on the key issues of the 87 North Atlantic areas closed to fishing, the challenges faced by the Mediterranean trawl fleet, and fishing agreements with third countries.
Speaking at a European Parliament event, Cepesca VP for the Mediterranean and Gulf of Cadiz José María Gallart defended the sustainability of the trawl fishery, put the situation into perspective, and requested an urgent review of the Mediterranean management plan which came into force in May 2020, and which has already led to a 40% reduction in fishing effort in this fishing ground. He commented that a vessel that could have had 230 fishing days in 2019 would now, following the agreement to change mesh sizes, have 130 days.
‘Andalusia is the most important fishing community in the Mediterranean, with its 700 kilometres of coastline, 13 fishing villages, 630 vessels, and almost 17,000 families who make a living from fishing,’ he said.
‘The most important type of fishing in the Mediterranean and the backbone of the entire sector is trawling, and the future of the entire fishing sector depends on its survival.’
Cepesca also held meetings with the President of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, Carmen Crespo , and with MEPs from the various political groups represented on the committee – including Francisco Millán Mon, MEP for the European People’s Party (EPP), Oihane Aguirregoitia, MEP for the EAJ-PNV, Nicolás González, MEP for the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) Group, and Nora Junco, MEP for the ECR Group.
Cepesca made clear its position on critically important for the Spanish fishing sector, including the Mediterranean management plan and the closure of 87 bottom fishing zones in the northeast Atlantic, following the ruling by the General Court of the EU that dismissed the appeals filed against the implementing regulation by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) and the Burela Fisheries Producers Organization (OPP).
‘This regulation should have excluded bottom-feeding longlines from its scope of application. This selective fishing gear has a minimal impact on the seabed and was used as an example by the European Commission itself in the debates prior to the approval of the Regulation approved in 2016, which is the origin of the Implementing Regulation,’ said Cepesca president Javier Garat.
‘The regulation is disproportionate; it failed to take into account the socioeconomic consequences or the warnings of scientists from ICES, who made it clear in their reports that demersal longline data had not been taken into account, but only trawling data. This has had a very negative impact on operators, such as those in Burela or Celeiro, whose annual catch volumes have been reduced by around 30% since the closure came into force.’
‘It is urgent that new Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis reflects on the impact of these closures and propose a review of the Deep Sea Access Regulation to exclude demersal longlines from its scope, as requested by the majority of political groups represented in the European Parliament,’ he said.
