Chirla, Chamelea gallina. (Photo: Junta de Andalucía)

Clam fishing ground closed in the Gulf of Cadiz

SPAIN
Friday, January 19, 2018, 01:40 (GMT + 9)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of Andalusia Board has decreed the closure of the fishing ground of the chirla (Chamelea gallina) in the Gulf of Cádiz, from January until the regeneration of the species allows sustainable fishing.

The adopted measure obeys to the recommendations gathered in the monitoring scientific reports that the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) carries out, the head of department of the Andalusian Government, Rodrigo Sánchez Haro, informed.

The counselor announced that a compatible aid will be provided for the affected fleet (composed of 96 hydraulic dredger vessels and 291 crew members), and that they will facilitate the hiring of sailors in boats of other fishing modalities or in another activity, as well as other social benefits.

Sanchez Haro said that it is a measure they would not like to make, "but that is necessary to preserve the activity and the species." He also recalled that a catch ban was also applied between December 2016 and July 2017.

Last summer, in view of the need to reconcile the recovery of the fishery with the obtaining of a minimum income for shipowners and crew, the opening of the fishery was decreed with strong management and control measures (with a TAC of 2,500 tonnes and the limitation from the actual daily working time to three hours between July 1, 2017 and April 30, 2018) and with an express appeal to the commitment and sensitivity of the sector.

However, "the measures adopted have not been able to prevent a further sharp decline in the abundance of chirla in the Cádiz Gulf waters," the Andalusian councilor regreted, so "the only solution is the paralysis of the activity."

The closure of the fishing ground will remain until the scientific reports determine that the population of chirla has been completely restored and that it is possible to resume the activity.

After recalling the need for the sector to participate with their boats in the sampling, Sánchez Haro said that periodic meetings will be held with the sector in which the evolution of the situation will be analyzed, and catches will be allowed as soon as the technical studies determine so.

As regards the aids provided, the counselor explained that they can only be granted to companies, that is, to shipowners, and not directly to the crew members. This circumstance implies that one must have "the firm will of the shipowner or owner of the hydraulic dredger ships to give the crew the part of the aid that is established".

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