The Fisheries ministers of the European Union have reached a unanimous agreement in the early hours of this Wednesday on the distribution of fishing quotas in community waters for 2025 that includes measures to cushion the cut to trawling in the Mediterranean against the proposal of the European Commission that wanted to reduce fishing days by 79%, to an average of 27 days of work.
The negotiations have resulted in an agreement for the distribution of fishing in the Atlantic and the North Sea and for fishing opportunities in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, which has focused the negotiating efforts of the ministers to ensure the survival of the trawl fleet who works in the area.
What has complicated the debate has been this reduction in fishing effort in the Mediterranean, which, according to the sector, was a “death sentence” for trawlers, which in the last five years have already endured a activity cut of 40%, which has limited their work days to about 130 a year.
“The negotiations have been long and complex on the Western Mediterranean,” acknowledged the new EU Fisheries Commissioner, Costa Kadis, at a press conference at the end of the meeting, in which he explained that “a mechanism compensation scheme that will alleviate the socio-economic impact of reduced trawling effort.
Resorting to the compensation mechanism will cushion, in part, the cut in drag requested by Brussels, since allows you to recover days of activity if certain environmental measures are complied with – to choose from 12 – such as flying doors, the imposition of bans or the temporary closure of some areas to protect demersal species whose recovery concerns the Commission: hake fry and red shrimp.
“If these measures are applied, fishermen will be able to fish on almost the same days,” defended the commissioner, who indicated to the media that the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, He left “satisfied.”
“These measures are cumulative and will allow the number of fishing days to be considerably increased,” added the Cypriot politician, who has also offered financing from the EU Fisheries Fund to help the fleet achieve these objectives.
The commissioner stressed that it was important for him to achieve a “balanced and responsible” agreement, which is why he has done “everything possible” and has resorted to “all the flexibilities allowed by the legal framework” to guarantee the balance between social considerations. , economic and environmental.
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