The fishing sector, in danger of extinction?

Miriam Triay/Ciutadella - Last Wednesday, December 11, the EU Council of Ministers for Agriculture and Fisheries took place, with the aim of debating and deciding on the Total Allowable Catches (TACs), and fishing quotas for the years 2025 and 2026 (for some species) in the Atlantic Ocean; and for 2025 in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. This already included the proposal, made by the European Commission, to reduce the annual fishing days by 79% by 2025 in the western Mediterranean, going from 130 to 27. One that scandalized Spanish fishermen, who demonstrated on December 9 and 10; but one that has finally been approved in this Council.

For some time now, in this weekly we have been updating the different measures that the European Commission has imposed on Mediterranean fishing. For some time now, we have seen how the fishermen of the major crafts of Menorca have seen their days or their catches limited, in favor of sustainability and care for the environment. And the fishermen of Menorca have been adapting and assuming the efforts that each of these changes could imply. For the general good. In 2019, the trawlers of the Balearic Islands worked 240 fishing days per year, compared to the 130 days they have had this year.

After four years in which the situation is like this, this year, and as Xavi Marquès, Patron Major of the fishermen's brotherhood, explains to us, it has become unsustainable. “Since they started applying measures from Europe, we have complied with them. They reduced our days, and we adapted. They advised us to use larger meshes so that the small fish could get out, and we did. But at no time have we seen a report that shows us what the current situation of our sea is like. And the measures continue to grow and restrict us”.

In this sense, the Spanish Minister Lluis Planas, explained, before going there, that he was attending with the determination to refute the Commission's proposal on the Mediterranean Sea. According to comments from the ministry: “The Minister understands that, if this initiative were to be carried out, the viability of the Mediterranean fleet, which has already made significant efforts to adapt in recent years, would be put in serious difficulties”.

An initiative that, as we say, has finally been approved, with possible concessions -as every year- if the fishermen adopt a series of measures. Among which we find the 50mm meshes, or the 45mm meshes, which depending on the speed with which they are applied, or the quantity of these that are installed, the concessions of days can increase. As well as the closures of 100-500 meters for 6 continuous weeks between May and September. Among others.

Measures that have also been on the table in other years, and that allowed fishermen to increase their working days, from 130 -which were the ones established this year-, to 150, for example. But looking ahead to next year, we must remember that fishermen will start from 27 days. Therefore, they will be able to increase up to a maximum of 130 days, if they adopt the most restrictive measures. In this sense, Marquès expresses that: “With a reasonable application of these measures we will be left with about 90 days -four and a half months of work-, and if we apply the most restrictive measures of the meshes, we can reach 130 -six and a half months-”.

Now, the fishermen must choose what options they have and evaluate them. For the moment, they still have to meet with the General Secretariat of Fisheries to express their intentions. There are still decisions to be made, and it is difficult to foresee what will finally happen. “I don’t know what will happen. If we limit ourselves as always, and we keep quiet. Or what we will do. But I don’t see it as feasible. Working for 90 days is not profitable. And doing 130 with the measures they want us to apply, I am not at all clear... The fish have specific sizes, and if they make us use meshes that are too big, we won’t be able to catch them”. The meeting at the national level will serve to bring together the different opinions that Mediterranean fishermen have. And to decide what they want to do, finally, in the face of the European Commission's decision.

This is a measure that, although it has been alleviated, in some way, according to what the Chief Skipper tells us, has already hurt the fishing sector, which is increasingly reduced. "The sector is already hurt. It has been there for a long time. And we have been adapting as best we can. But if we already have other problems, such as generational change, the fact that our work is increasingly complicated, does not help at all that young people want to dare to enter this profession".

In fact, from the National Federation of Fishermen's Brotherhoods, the disappearance of 556 boats was calculated, and the destruction of 17,000 jobs. Now that the measure has been approved, and no matter how much these concessions have been made, the fear is that many people will not be able to face it and will have to withdraw and moor their boats.

"Not only is a primary sector being harmed, but it is also affecting fishmongers, wholesalers, suppliers of materials, supermarkets... and it ends up doing a lot of harm to our own gastronomy and culture. If we can only work for five months, these will be concentrated in the summer, and the people of Menorca will be the ones who will suffer. Our fish will end up being a luxury product, which only tourists who come on holiday will be able to eat, and who pay a good price for it. Because if not, obviously, the company is not profitable. And they always pay for it themselves."