Planas: Spain achieves the best quota of the 21st century for southern hake and increases quotas in monkfish, Cornish sole and southern horse mackerel

The EU's Agriculture and Fisheries Council of Ministers - the fifth and final to be held under the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU - has adopted a fishing agreement that is satisfactory for the European Union (EU) fleet and with very good results for Spain, according to the minister Luis Planas.

During the "long and complex" negotiations, which lasted well into Tuesday morning, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, in his capacity as president of the Council, achieved some important milestones such as a historic quota for southern hake, mitigating the cut for the Mediterranean fleet and setting, for the first time, multi-annual quotas in nine fisheries to provide stability for the fishing business. Setting multi-annual quotas was one of the priorities of the Spanish presidency of the Council.

Planas has managed to reach agreements between the presidency, the Commission and the member states. Decisions have been taken on the basis of the best available scientific information to protect marine biodiversity and maintain the fishing activity.

Among the "tremendously positive" results for the Spanish fleet, the minister cited, for example, the case of southern hake, for which a "historic quota has been achieved, the largest so far in the 21st century", of 10,971 tonnes. Planas explained that this is a fishery that benefits practically the entire Spanish fleet fishing in the Atlantic, as Galician, Asturian, Cantabrian, Basque and Andalusian vessels will have more quota.

The joint work of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, together with that of the European Commission and the decisive support of the member states has for the first time made it possible to set multi-annual quotas - for two or even three years, until 2026 - for nine fisheries in EU waters for plaice, whiting, pollack, Norway lobster and sole. The objective has been clear; to provide stability and certainty to the activity of the fleet, the minister underlined.

The minister also highlighted that, for the first time in the councils of ministers that decide on Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas, the meeting, which began on Sunday 10 December, had already started with previous work that resulted in the closure, two days earlier, of the most important agreements with third countries, the United Kingdom and Norway.

The fisheries agreement with the UK will allow the EU to catch almost 388,000 tonnes of fish in shared Atlantic waters. And the trilateral pact between the EU, UK and Norway, focusing on the shared waters of the North Sea, sets TACs of 915,000 tonnes, covering a quota for EU countries of almost 415,000 tonnes of cod, haddock, pollock, whiting, plaice and herring.

In the Western Mediterranean, where Italian, French and Spanish vessels fish, the presidency has managed to minimise the impact of the 9.5% cut in catch days proposed by the European Commission, by raising the compensation mechanism to 6% for the use of different voluntary measures such as improved selectivity, which avoids catching juveniles, as well as time-area closures.

During his speech, Luis Planas defended these new combined formulas of selectivity of means and stops as "key to achieving maximum sustainable yield in the Mediterranean".

This brings the initial 9.5% cut in fishing days in the Mediterranean to 3.5%, thanks to compensation for the use of voluntary measures.

Improved quotas for Spain

In the Atlantic, in addition to the improvement on the southern hake quota, 9.7% higher than in 2023, there are also increases in the allowable catches for Cornish sole (11.4% compared to 2022) and monkfish (7.2%) fished in the waters of the Cantabrian and the Northwest, Portugal and the Gulf of Cadiz. Likewise, the quota for horse mackerel from southern Galicia, Portugal and the Gulf of Cadiz is increased by 5.3%.

The vessels fishing in these fishing grounds for southern hake, Cornish sole and monkfish come mainly from the communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country and Andalusia, and for southern horse mackerel from Galicia and Andalusia.

For anchovy in the Bay of Biscay (fleets of the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia), the TACs are maintained at 33,000 tonnes, following the good biological situation noted in the scientific reports.

The Eastern Cantabrian Norway lobster fishery remains open for next year, with a volume of 12.4 tonnes - 3% more than in 2023 - to be shared between Galician and Cantabrian vessels.

In the case of Norway lobster in the Gulf of Cadiz, despite the initial proposal for a 20% reduction, the quota for 2023 was maintained at 32 tonnes during the negotiations.

For all sole species in the Bay of Biscay and the Northwest, Portuguese waters and the Gulf of Cadiz, the reduction initially proposed by the Commission is reduced from -33% to -17%.

Agreement with the United Kingdom

With the EU-UK agreement, Spain maintains hake quotas for the needs of the Galician, Asturian, Cantabrian and Basque fleets in the area, despite a 12% drop in the EU level.

For monkfish, the EU fleet increased its quotas by between 4.4% and 5.3% (vessels from Galicia and the Basque Country), depending on the area, and Cornish sole (vessels from Galicia and the Basque Country) increased by between 1.9% and 3%, also depending on the area. For the West of Scotland Cornish sole, the increase will be 7%.

For Porcupine Norway lobster, the increase is 20% and, finally, for horse mackerel in EU waters and in the Bay of Biscay, which is also fixed jointly with the United Kingdom, the quota remains practically stable for Galician vessels (-1%).

For the Cantabrian and Gran Sol red seabream and alfonsino (Asturias and Galicia fleets), Spain maintains the level of catches.

With regard to cod in the West of Scotland and the Celtic Sea, which is of interest to the Basque fleet and for which Spain has no initial allocation, thanks to the exchange mechanisms put in place in 2019, an increase in the TAC of 15% has been achieved for the first of these areas, while in the second it is maintained at 2023 levels.

The agreement signed between the North Atlantic coastal states (NEAFC), in which the EU, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland participate, has agreed quotas for two species as important for Spain as mackerel and blue whiting.

In mackerel (fleets of the Basque Country, Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias), the quota decreases by 5%, but with the year-on-year flexibilities it will remain above the 30,000 tonnes total for Spain.

In the case of blue whiting (Galician fleet), the quota increases by 12% in the waters of the Cantabrian and the Northwest, Portugal and the Gulf of Cadiz and, with the inter-annual flexibilities, the total quota will reach 50,000 tonnes.

On eel and glass eel fishing, the Commission has proposed to maintain the same measures as in 2023, consisting of a six-month closure, which coincides with the migratory period of the species. Within those six months, an exception is allowed to fish for one month and, in the case of eel, for an additional month and a half if the fishing is for restocking.

Spain, the leading EU fishing fleet

Fishing has a long tradition in Spain, with deep roots in the almost 8,000 kilometres of coastline. Moreover, it is of decisive importance due to its role as a source of high quality and staple food, its capacity to settle populations in coastal areas and its impact as a driver of the economy in these areas and in the rest of the national territory.

The Spanish fleet is made up of around 8,700 vessels, and ranks third in terms of number of vessels, behind Italy and Greece, 95% of which fish in the national fishing grounds. There are 99 vessels operating in the EU fishery fleet, fishing in the North-East Atlantic waters, the so-called Gran Sol fleet, and in Portuguese waters. The international fleet consists of 108 ships operating in all oceans: Atlantic, Indian and Pacific.

The Spanish fleet is the first in Europe in terms of catches, with around 807,697 tonnes of fish in 2022. Of these, 32% were caught in national waters, 6.5% in EU waters and the largest volume, 61%, by fleets operating in international waters (495,520 tonnes).

In 2022, Spain imported just over 1.74 million tonnes of fishery, processed, preserved and seaweed products, worth 9.014 billion euros, while exports exceeded 1.22 million tonnes, with a turnover of 6.006 billion euros.

Non official translation