Fish auction in the port of Aviles. (Photo: Stock File/FIS)
SPAIN
Monday, August 25, 2014, 00:30 (GMT + 9)
Although the fleet of Aviles has been experiencing reductions in recent years, the port of this municipality is the main one in fish landings in Asturias, according to a study commissioned by the Principality of Asturias to the University of Cantabria.
Aviles has 119 fishing businesses, and out of the total, 40 have fishing boats employing 639 workers and negotiate an average of EUR 63 million, reported La Nueva España.
According to the Fisheries Director General of the regional government, Alberto Vizcaíno, in 2012 the turnover exceeded EUR 62.7 million, and was followed by a positive trend, with an increase of 79.27 per cent over the average of the period 2007-2011.
Furthermore, he emphasized that these results were obtained despite the fact that between 2007 and 2012 local docks lost six ships, three of them this last year.
Although the boats from Aviles constitute only 11.7 per cent of the Asturian fleet, they account for most of the larger vessels and represent 47.5 per cent of total gross registered tonnes.
"The value of the auctioned fish in Aviles accounts for 57.3 per cent of purchases of the fisheries value chain businesses, versus 23.4 per cent in the rest of the autonomous community," Vizcaino stated.
"This means that there is a very high dependence on fish from other areas, which shows the ability to absorb even greater landing volume," he added.
In 2012, Aviles auctioned almost 12,800 tonnes of fish for more than EUR 28.16 million, which represents 64 per cent of the volume and nearly 60 per cent of the auctioned value in the Asturian markets.
Vizcaino highlighted that the ports of Aviles and Gijón account for between 86 per cent and 89 per cent of the Asturian fisheries, and between 83 per cent and 85 per cent in economic value.
Moreover, the Fisheries Director commented that the new sardine plan has "very bad" prospects. In this regard, he said the situation in the sector is marked by "quota limit" because "many species are at the limit of their activity," reported El Comercio.
He also stressed that biomass data available for the ministry "are the worst in the last 30 years." He noted that at a recent meeting with the central government, the Principality of Asturias stated that "the measures can not be limited to stop fishing, other proposals must be sought, such as subsidizing the sector while sardines are not being caught and establishing closed areas to encourage the species breeding and recovery."
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