The mackerel fisheries have been opened today in the provinces of A Coruña and Pontevedra, Galicia, as established by the resolutions adopted by the General Secretariat of Fisheries. With them the management process of the 2019 survey of this important fishing stock is concluded.
Each year, the General Secretariat of Fisheries establishes the opening date of the mackerel season after a process of consultations with the inshore fishing sector, integrated in the modalities of minor fishing and that using gillnets, trawl net and longline. The aforementioned season begins on the coasts of the Basque Country, at the beginning of March, and advances until reaching the coasts of Galicia a month later.
In order to finalize this process with A Coruña, the General Secretariat held a meeting last week with representatives of the minor gear fleet of this province, with the presence of the president of the National Federation of Associations and representatives of the majority associations of the fishing activity using gear such as gillnet, to outline the management conditions of this fishery in this area.
In said meeting a system was agreed that allows to maintain the essence of the majority agreement of the associations of the province, to destine half of the quota for the season directed with hooks and 50 per cent for accidental catch with other fishing gear. At the same time, maximum limits of annual catch per vessel are guaranteed for the gillnets given their special condition, since the quantities of mackerel that this gear can capture in its main fisheries is much more important than those of the rest of gear and they can not develop other alternative fisheries while mackerel is present in Spanish waters.
From the Ministry it has been highlighted that half of the fleet of Cantabrian gillnet gear has its base in the ports of A Coruña so it is so important to ensure a sufficient amount for their by-catches for the entire year, like the rest of the fleet of other types of gear other than trawling and purse seine with base port in this Galician province.
On the occasion of the entry into force this year of the obligation to land all catches of species subject to catch limits, the General Secretariat considered it necessary to arbitrate a system different from that of previous years, since the exhaustion of the provincial quota could suppose the mooring of vessels using gear that may accidentally catch the species.
In Cantabria, Asturias and Lugo it has been opted for a system of individual catch limits per vessel per year, so that each boat is responsible for not fishing more than the amount assigned as the maximum limit. In the Basque Country, due to the type of fisheries they have, and in Pontevedra due to the lower presence of the species, it has been possible to maintain a system similar to that of other years.
For the province of A Coruña, the General Secretariat has departed as little as possible from the agreement of the Provincial Federation of Associations, opting for a mixed system, which allows to avoid overfishing the entire quota that corresponds to the province during the directed fishing with hooks and that there is sufficient quota for possible by-catches in fisheries directed to other species. This approach has been shared by the National Federation.