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Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Luis Planas. (Photo: Stock File)
Spain achieves a 'very good result' in negotiating fishing quotas for 2019
SPAIN
Wednesday, December 19, 2018, 21:40 (GMT + 9)
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Luis Planas has welcomed the agreement reached in the Council of Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of the EU on Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas for 2019 in the Atlantic and North Sea waters for 2019.
According to Planas, Spain has achieved a "very good result" with this agreement, which the ministers closed at dawn, after more than two days of "complex" and unique negotiations. The traditional TAC negotiation, one of the most important in recent years, has been featured by the entry into force in 2019 of the full obligation to land the catches of unwanted species in ports.
Fishermen from Barbate, Spain
For Spain, the agreement includes an increase in numerous interest quotas for its fleet, offers solutions to the rules on landing in ports in 2019 and makes it possible to reach the objective of Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) -exploitation of the fishing grounds to safe biological levels - of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) set for 2020, one year before.
Planas stressed that the management and adaptations of recent years allow an improvement of most of the fisheries and have led to increases in TACs, in line with scientific recommendations.
With the agreement, Spain obtains fishing quotas for a value of EUR 503.8 million for 2019, which means an increase of EUR 26 million or 5 per cent compared to the 2018 quotas, according to calculations made taking into account the price of the fish in first sale in fish markets.
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Boundaries of sub-areas forming part of Gran Sol.
Spain has achieved an increase in hake quota in northern waters: the TAC rises 22.7 per cent in non-Spanish waters of the Bay of Biscay and 27.5 per cent in other fishing grounds in Ireland and Scotland, such as Gran Sol.
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Fishing ground Gran Sol
The TACs of megrim also increase in northern waters (47.3 per cent in Gran Sol and 39.9 per cent in non-Spanish waters of the large Biscay) and in southern waters or Iberian waters (35 per cent in the Gulf of Cádiz, Galicia and Cantabrian).
The TAC of horse mackerel increased 69.2 per cent in the waters of Galicia and the Gulf of Cádiz, 18.1 per cent in western waters and 17.9 per cent in Cantabrian waters. In addition, Spain maintains its anchovy quota in the Bay of Biscay.
In the negotiation, Spain managed to maintain the same level of TAC of southern hake (Gulf of Cadiz, Galicia and Cantabrian) and stop the initial proposal of the European Commission (EC), which proposed a cut of 14 per cent. Planas has valued this improvement, with which Spain interrupts the trend of the last four years, in which the EU lowered the TAC.
 en aguas del Atlántico Noreste y Mar del Norte españa fiscom(2).jpeg)
Comparative TAC ICES Areas 2018-2019. (Click on the photo to enlarge it)
The monkfish TAC will increase by 5 per cent in Iberian waters, while it decreases by 7 per cent in French waters of the Bay of Biscay and drops by 2 per cent in Irish waters.
The minister stressed that one of the most difficult points in the negotiations was the search for solutions to the full implementation of the landing obligation in ports in 2019, within the measures of the CFP to eliminate discards (unwanted catches of fish that were thrown into the sea).
The agreement includes measures to avoid the problem of choke species, those for whose capture a boat (dedicated to another fishery) has very little quota or zero quota and those for whose a vessel lacks quota can threaten the usual development of the activity of the boat.
In the case of five stocks (especially cod), a mechanism is established by which the Member States with quota make mandatory provision of 6 per cent of their quotas for countries without quota, as is the case in Spain.
As regards seven fisheries for which Spain has a zero quota (such as sole and plaice in certain fishing grounds, exchanges were agreed or negotiated bilaterally with other Member States to ensure the availability of quantities that Spanish vessels need to continue their usual activity during 2019.
Spain intensively negotiated these necessary mechanisms, which will ensure the maintenance of the activity of its fleet from January 1, highlighted from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
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 en aguas del Atlántico Noreste y Mar del Norte españa fiscom(3).jpeg)
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