The sardine fishery returns from Monday, after five months of forced break due to the capture ban for exhaustion of the quota imposed on September 20, 2014, followed by a biological rest period.
The ban was compensated with subsidies to fishermen, masters and shipowners totaling approximately 4 million, but have not come to silence criticism of fishing communities who complained about the lack of support and alternatives.
However, during the closed season, fishermen were prevented from accessing any compensation due to Community law.
About half of the 207 vessels licensed to fish siege affected by the temporary suspension of sardine fishing continued to fish, opting for other species such as mackerel or mackerel, and the rest have opted to receive compensation.
The biological rest runs from 1 January to 28 February for fishermen who did not join the temporary cessation and between 15 January and 15 March for receiving compensation.
After the closed season, an initial quota of 4,000 tons between March is established and May but has yet to fix the total quota available for 2015.
The government has always insisted that the ‘stock’ sardine need to recover and that there will only be conditions to review the current fishing limits when new evidence that is increasing.
In 2014, the annual quota was 13,500 tons of sardines.
The ‘stock’ (ie, the total mass of pescável sardines) considered appropriate round the 400 to 500 thousand tons, but not currently exceeds 150,000. In 1994, the ‘stock’ has reached a record high of 950,000 tonnes.
sardine fishery management in Portugal is done on a shared basis with the Monitoring Committee of the Sardine, which includes fishermen, industry canning and public administration.
Lusa / SOL
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