The government guarantees that extraordinary support for the fishing sector, affected by the bad weather in recent months, will begin to be paid this month. The guarantee was left by the Secretary of State for Fisheries, Salvador Malheiro, on an official visit to Norway, after around 700 applications had been made.
According to Notícias ao Minuto, which cites statements made by the government official in Trondheim, on the sidelines of a visit to the research organization SINTEF, there is already confirmation that the first payments will be processed before the end of the month.
The Secretary of State stressed that the objective is to help professionals who were unable to go out to sea and who recorded significant drops in revenue.
The extraordinary support provided by the Executive reaches 3.5 million euros and is intended to mitigate the impact of the forced stoppage of vessels, following adverse weather conditions.
Who can access support
According to the same source, the aid is allocated under the Mar 2030 program and is aimed at owners of fishing vessels that have stopped for at least 30 days.
This period can be counted consecutively or interpolated, from November 15, 2025 to February 20 of this year.
According to Notícias ao Minuto, candidate vessels must also prove losses equal to or greater than 30 percent of sales volume at national auctions, compared to the same months of the previous year.
Registration closes this Friday and, according to the Secretary of State for Fisheries, around 700 requests for support have already been submitted. The governor highlighted that these are professionals who live exclusively from the activity and who faced an abrupt drop in income.
Impact of depressions in Portugal
The bad weather that motivated this extraordinary support was associated with the passage of depressions Kristin, Leonardo and Marta. According to the publication, these storms caused 18 deaths in Portugal, in addition to hundreds of injuries and displacement.
The material consequences were extensive. There were total and partial destructions of homes, businesses and equipment, as well as falling trees and structures.
There were also closures of roads, schools and transport services, power, water and communications cuts, as well as flooding in several regions of the country.
According to , the fishing sector was particularly affected due to the impossibility of going out to sea for long periods, which compromised normal activity and significantly reduced revenue.
The Executive understands that this extraordinary support is an immediate response to an exceptional situation. The promise that payments will begin this month comes at a time when many professionals are awaiting liquidity to resume normal activity.
With the registration deadline coming to an end and hundreds of requests already registered, the focus now turns to the rapid execution of the announced funds and the concrete impact they will have on the affected shipowners.
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