The European Union Fisheries Control Regulation came into force for vessels over 12 metres in January. Although under-12 fleet still have two years before the regulation is implemented, that hasn’t stopped small-scale fishermen in Spain joining protests and a general strike.
While the small-scale sector accepts the need for effective control, there are significant concerns relating to the regulation that will apply to them from 2028, placing on them what is seen as excessive bureaucracy and high administrative burden.
The industry claims that those who drafted and approved the control regulation are unaware of the reality of the small-scale fishing sector and what its requirements will actually mean in their day-to-day work.
Specific aspects they oppose include the requirement for four hours’ notice before entering port. They state that for vessels fishing in coastal waters and working trips of less than 12 hours, such timing is impossible to guess – plus this requirement adds no useful information to fisheries control.
There’s also concern over the requirement to weigh fish on board with a margin of error of less than 10%, as it’s seen as impossible to untangle, sort and weigh the product on board before entering port on board a small, single-handed vessel, and this demand could be severely detrimental to safety at sea.
The sector states that while it is important to have accurate catch declarations, this can wait until arrival on land, where all the necessary equipment and conditions are in place to do so with all the necessary guarantees and accuracy.
Spanish small-scale fishermen are concerned that there uncertainty among Member States on how the digitisation system will work, from the electronic logbook on board to the new obligation to carry a VMS system on small-scale vessels.
‘If implemented correctly, digitisation could revolutionise data collection and use, empowering fishers on the one hand and improving their visibility and increasing the reliability of scientific advice on the other,’ Spanish coastal fishermen state.
‘If not implemented correctly, with tracking and data collection systems that have not been sufficiently tested, are costly and have not been designed with the involvement of fishers from the start, it could wreak havoc and further increase the bureaucratic burden, as we have seen with the disastrous implementation of the iVMS tracking system in the UK.’
