Planas pledges to promote changes before the European Commission to encourage generational changeover in the fisheries sector

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, during his speech at the Social Social Affairs Commission of the Consultative Committee for the Fishing Sector

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has expressed the Government's commitment to the European Commission promoting regulatory changes that would favour effective generational changeover in the fisheries sector, "one of the most difficult challenges we face". For the minister, the incorporation of young people is fundamental to successfully face the future challenges of the fishing sector. "If we want a future, we need young people".

Luis Planas spoke at the Social Affairs Commission of the Consultative Committee for the Fishing Sector, which was held at the Ministry's headquarters with the participation of representatives from the fishing sector as a whole (shipowners, fishermen's associations, fish retail trade and trade unions), the public administrations involved from the central and regional governments, and experts in the fields of social sciences and maritime-fishing training.

Created in 2017, the Social Affairs Commission is one of the 19 specialised commissions of the Consultative Committee of the Fisheries Sector, for consultation, debate and reporting to the sector on different initiatives promoted by this ministry to address the challenges and identify the opportunities of the fisheries sector.

During his speech, Minister Planas assured that the sustainability of the sector depends on fishing resources management being based on the best scientific knowledge available, without forgetting that there will be no sustainability without profitability and without fishermen. For this reason, he added, it is essential to address the social aspects of fishing activity, among which the minister highlighted the incorporation of young people into the sector.

In this respect, he stressed that generational changeover in fisheries is one of the most important challenges facing the sector. Only 27% of those affiliated to the Special Regime for Seafarers are under 40 years of age. Planas stressed that his department is well aware of this problem and is therefore working to promote the access of a new generation to this profession and to strengthen the role of women in this process.

In addition, he pointed out that generational changeover also involves promoting integration and monitoring equal opportunities, both in terms of age and gender. For the minister, the effective participation of women in fishing activity and in decision-making processes is also key to maintaining the dynamism of the sector.

With these objectives in mind, the ministry has drawn up a basic document on training and generational changeover in the extractive fishing sector, which includes the contributions of this commission and the autonomous communities. This document assesses the challenges and needs in terms of generational replacement, in order to design a roadmap that will include lines of action in the field of training, professionalisation and improvement of working conditions.

The minister pointed out that the contributions of this document will be very useful for the future design of professional qualifications and accreditations, and thus encourage the continued growth in the number of qualifications that enable nautical-fishing activities.

The minister also referred to the support provided by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (FEMPA) for the period 2021-2027, which includes specific lines of financing to encourage generational changeover, such as aid to improve the professional training of young people under 40 years of age, for the first-time acquisition of vessels, or the improvement of conditions on board.

He also stated that Spain will insist, within the Community framework, on the need to establish a system of incentives for the renewal of the fleet that will allow the sector to modernise, in balance with the sustainability of resources. He stressed that the sector must have more modern, efficient vessels with better conditions of habitability on board, because "in the 21st century we cannot fish with 20th century vessels".

Non official translation