This additional amount implies increasing mackerel fishing opportunities in the Cantabrian and Northwest fleet in a 11.64 per cent.

Spanish fleet gets over 2,300 additional tonnes of mackerel thanks to exchanges

SPAIN
Friday, March 22, 2019, 23:30 (GMT + 9)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced that it will distribute 2,362 tonnes of mackerel achieved through exchanges to the Cantabrian and Northwest fishing fleets, to alleviate the shortage of quota for this 2019 season.

This additional amount implies increasing mackerel fishing opportunities in the Cantabrian and Northwest fleet in a 11.64 per cent, compensating in part the decrease imposed by the international agreements.

Over the next few days, the sector will be informed on the amounts corresponding to each census and vessel of this fishing ground in the case of distributions or individual assignments.

Mackerel fishery in the Bay of Biscay.

Last December, a reduction in the mackerel quota from the Cantabrian area was agreed on 20 per cent, following the agreements reached at the meetings of the NEAFC Coastal States. This decrease meant a quota for Spain of 20,277 tonnes, after deducting the fine imposed by overfishing in 2009.

Faced with this situation of scarcity in a key resource for Spanish fisheries and fleets, the Spanish Government began negotiations with other community partners to carry out exchanges that would allow obtaining additional quantities of mackerel quota in the fishery, which is already in full swing.

Fishing vessels of "La costera" of the mackerel (verdel or xarda) in the Cantabrian and Northwest Fisheries (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country)

The result of these efforts is obtaining these new quotas that will be assigned to the different fleets of the Bay of Biscay and Northwest in proportion to the quotas they have under Order AAA / 2534/2015 of November 17 and order AAA / 1406/2016 of August 18.

As a result of these exchanges with other Member States, the NEAFC census fleets will also be assigned 400 tonnes in addition to the above-mentioned mackerel stock (MAC / 2CX14-), which can not be used in the 8c zone. 9 and that will serve to meet the needs of this fleet in terms of compliance with the landing obligation.

The Ministry expects to continue negotiations to obtain additional quotas of mackerel to make them available to the fleet if possible in the coming weeks, but clarifies that "the uncertainties of Brexit and the situation of patent shortage of quotas this year for all European fleets, they introduce an element of complexity in the negotiations".


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