The EU will allow the trawl fleet to maintain the same fishing days as in 2024

The regional minister Joan Simonet, who represented all the autonomous communities of Spain at the last European Council of Fisheries Ministers of the year, has emphasized that "it is essential" to modify the management plan for Mediterranean fisheries.

The regional minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, participated at midnight in the last European Council of Fisheries Ministers of the year as the representative of all the autonomous communities of Spain. During the Agrifish council, an agreement was reached between the member states and the Commission that would allow the trawl fleet to maintain the same number of fishing days as established in 2024, which means an average of 130 days a year. In this regard, if the fishermen of the Balearic Islands do not want to lose any fishing days, they would have to make a series of changes related to the mesh sizes of the nets. Thus, boats fishing for shrimp would have to replace 40 mm meshes with 50 mm ones. On the other hand, those fishing closer to shore would have to switch from 40 mm to 45 mm.

Nevertheless, minister Simonet has highlighted that "it is essential" to modify the regulation governing the Mediterranean fisheries management plan, with the aim that in the near future the Commission cannot again propose drastic reductions in fishing days for trawl boats. "The threat of a 79% reduction has been dodged, but not eliminated," Simonet emphasized.

Among other topics, the last Council also approved that the total catch quota for red shrimp in the Mediterranean will change from 787 tons to 708, when the initial proposal from the Commission was to reduce it to 551 tons. Additionally, the dolphinfish quota remains at 127 tons. It is worth mentioning that this year, up to today, 94 tons of dolphinfish have been caught in the Balearic Islands.

Once the Council of Ministers, which concluded at 1:00 a.m., was over, Simonet stated that in the coming days the Government will analyze in detail, together with the sector, all the actions agreed by the European Union that affect the fishermen of the Balearic Islands. "We want to convey to the sector that it will have the support of the Ministry to face the possible expenses that may arise due to the implementation of the new measures proposed by Europe."

The minister personally noted that "it has been a very tough negotiation," but it finally served to minimize the previous proposal of the Commission, which intended to reduce by 79% the fishing days available to trawl boats in the Western Mediterranean. In this regard, Simonet recalled that this measure "endangered the subsistence of professional fishing activity in the Balearic Islands, as such a decision would have left us without fresh local fish."