Fishing vessels at a Spanish port. (Photo: Stock File)
The Spanish Fisheries Confederation (CEPESCA) expressed its "total rejection" of the reductions in quotas suggested by the European Commission (EC) in its proposal for total allowable catches (TACs) for 2015.
To shipowners, the former Fisheries Commissioner of the European Union (EU), Maria Damanaki, offered "the last straw" to the sector with its latest quota project because it only takes into account the environmental aspects but not its economic impact.
The Confederation criticized the quota reductions for northern or Gran Sol hake (4.1 per cent), the Iberian hake (15 per cent), the northern horse mackerel (25.6 per cent) and megrim (55 per cent in Iberian waters and 20.4 per cent in the northern fishing grounds).
Besides, CEPESCA regretted the fact that Brussels wants to implement such reductions next year, when the measures of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform become effective, such as the obligation to land all the captures at port to avoid discards, EFEagency informed.
By 2015, it is anticipated that this obligation is imposed on such resources as mackerel and horse mackerel.
"From a technical standpoint it is not understandable" that the intention is to presently implement the maximum sustainable yield criteria for 2015, "sacrificing" all the fleets, CEPESCA warned.
Therefore, the Confederation calls for the reform measures to be implemented more "gradually".
The EC proposes a reduction of almost 5,000 tonnes for the horse mackerel from the Bay of Biscay (VIIIc area), changing from 18,508 tonnes -- available to the fleet this year -- to 13,572 tonnes it would have in 2015.
Anyway, Brussels deems it necessary to increase this pelagic species in Portuguese waters by 70 per cent, increasing from 35,000 to 59,500 tonnes, the newspaper Faro de Vigo informed.
In the case of hake, Brussels makes a 15 per cent reduction in the quota for the southern stock (Iberian waters), changing from 16,266 to 13,826 tonnes, and for the northern waters (Gran Sol) it proposes a decrease of 4.1 per cent, from of 81,846 to 78,457 tonnes.
Another resource that should receive a cut is the megrim. According to the Commission, fishing for megrim in Iberian waters could be reduced by 55 per cent, from 2,257 tonnes set for 2014 to 1,013 tonnes in 2015. And in the waters of western France and Ireland and the Bay of Biscay, Brussels proposes a reduction of 20.5 per cent, to a total of 15,180 tonnes compared to 19,000 tonnes in 2014.
"Any chief who is suggested a reduction will be shocked. They are the ones who know the state of resources better as well as the fish stock status in the Cantabrian Sea is good. We are envied in Europe because of this," the President of the Association of Trawler Owners from A Coruña (PescaGalicia), Torcuato Teixeira told the newspaper La Opinión.
"Let's assume it's a starting position, but it is absolutely reprehensible for us, because the biomass of species such as hake is in very good condition," complained the leader.