The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Planas, defended this Wednesday the “good results” in the Atlantic and Mediterranean by 2025. Above all because the agreement, closed in the early hours of Tuesday to Wednesday unanimously by the Twenty-Seven, has achieved “neutralize” the snip, from 130 to only 27 days of fishing per year, that the European Commission had imposed on Spanish trawl fishing in the Mediterranean, the Spanish official has justified. This is done, however, at the cost of applying compensatory measures to make this type of fishing more sustainable which, despite the relief at having found a way out, continue to worry a sector that is once again forced to make more efforts to stay ahead. float.
“We have managed to neutralize the 79% decrease that would have reduced the number of working days of our fleet and made it absolutely unviable,” explained Planas, whose face reflected the fatigue accumulated after more than 30 hours of arduous negotiations. Spain feared, according to sources familiar with the discussions, that an agreement could not be reached that would mitigate the impact of the original proposal. Minister Planas has repeatedly described this as
Given the impossibility of modifying the 79% cut imposed by Brussels, which meant going down to only 27 days of fishing per year, the path chosen was to introduce “compensation mechanisms” to make fishing more sustainable. . In the negotiation, the three large Mediterranean countries – Spain, Italy and France – remained together under the threat of blocking the final agreement, which ultimately was not necessary. In the end, the agreed measures, with their application, will make it possible to counteract the reduction in work days, by adding, depending on the degree of compliance, more days to the original base.
“In practical terms, our fishermen will be able to have the same days of work in the Mediterranean in 2025 as they had in 2024. I think this is great news because it allows us to continue fishing activity in the Mediterranean.” Planas insisted.
To do this, yes, you must apply various cumulative measures. This is what has immediately generated misgivings due to its economic impact and its viability in the face of such a large (570 ships) and diverse fleet. In total, 12 compensatory measures have been negotiated, of which six are applicable to the Spanish fleet: two related to meshes (nets), three regarding closures and one more on flying doors, a mechanism that many ships of the fleet already apply. area to prevent it from touching the seabed.
“Fishermen will be able to benefit from a substantial increase in fishing days if they commit to selectivity, to respecting closed seasons in certain areas and to the use of innovative fishing gear,” he had explained in the early hours of the morning, after the agreement was finally unanimously announced. although it only required a qualified majority, the new Fisheries Commissioner, Costas Kadis. The Cypriot, who received representatives of the Spanish trawling industry on Monday, assures that he “listened” carefully and especially to the loss of employment for 17,000 families along the entire Spanish Mediterranean coast. “We have done everything possible to achieve all possible flexibilities to ensure the best balance between social, economic and environmental considerations,” he assured. The result, he insisted, is “balanced and responsible.”
According to Planas, only with the addition of just two of the compensatory measures, that of the establishment of 45-millimeter meshes for coastal fishing and 50-millimeter meshes for deep-sea fishing, a total of 80% of fishing days, which would neutralize the Commission’s cut.
One of the buts that the sector sees, which asks for more “clarifications” to a “very confusing” final document, is that for this neutralization of the discounted days to be effective, the changes must be applied by “the entire fleet”, an extreme difficult to achieve in view of the differences within it.
“In order to maintain fishing days, an additional effort will have to be made, which not everyone will be able to comply with. In particular, the need to change the fishing nets again,” said the secretary of the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (Cepesca), Javier Garat, who followed all the negotiations in Brussels. This “new turn of the screw,” he predicts, will have “social and economic consequences in the Mediterranean fishing sector. We will see how many manage to survive.”
Aware of these fears, and that these are “complicated” measures, Planas has assured that he has already spoken with the Commission to “seek public support mechanisms to make the transition to these methods that should make the transition as light as possible.” more sustainable fishing.
The background of the fight between Brussels and Madrid is that of the demersal populations (the species that live on or near the seabed) of the western Mediterranean adopted in 2019. The program included a transitional period of five years, which ends in 2024, in which the number of days on which boats with trawl nets go fishing has been progressively reduced. Selectivity measures have also been applied. As of January 1, the application of all provisions of the multiannual plan is planned, which seeks to ensure compliance with the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), that is, the maximum quantities that can be caught in a specific stock of fish without its size decreases.
To meet these objectives in 2025, Brussels has calculated the “radical” cut for Spain, which continues to refute the reports on the state of the fish population on which the Commission has based its calculations. Meanwhile, even environmental organizations such as Oceana, which have exceptionally supported the sector on this occasion due to the “socioeconomic” impact of the measures, recall that it was already known, at least since 2022, that this MSY goal would not be achieved for some of the species included in the plan.
In this regard, Planas has insisted that the Commission “has, without a doubt, made a mistake with a proposal of such a radical nature.” And he assured that he had conveyed this to Kadis, because a “fundamental reflection on the application of the regulation” is required. “It is a problem that is there,” he stated.
“Very good results for the Atlantic”
Faced with the headaches that the Mediterranean negotiation has entailed, the Spanish minister has celebrated the “important figures” obtained in the quotas for monkfish, western horse mackerel and crayfish. It has also been possible to reverse the proposed cut of six tons for Norway lobster in the Gulf of Cádiz, which finally maintains its quota of 32 tons.
In the three pollock fishing areas, the quantities set for this year are also maintained (388 tons), while southern hake, one of the species most appreciated by consumers and with the greatest added value for Spanish vessels, consolidates its position. catch figure (10,953 tons) “thanks to the good state of the fishery,” says the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Meanwhile, quotas increase in species of “great interest” for the markets such as the southern rooster (3,492 tons, 732 more than in 2024), southern monkfish (4,340 tons, 625 more) and in the crayfish of functional unit 31, which doubles its quota to 25 tons.
Likewise, Spain celebrates the agreement with the United Kingdom, in which, it affirms, the main objectives set have been achieved, from which almost 90 boats from the Cantabrian coast will benefit. “The whole negotiation has been a good result for Spain,” Planas concluded.
