Miguel Ramos
Santoña, (EFE).- The Cantabrian fleet finalizes the preparations to begin, on March 1, the bocarte (anchovy) coast, which will have a total quota of 30,182 tons, the highest figure that Spain will have since the closure of the fishery in 2006, so the sector trusts that the campaign will be profitable.
This was explained to EFE by the president of the Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds of Cantabria, César Nates, who has recognized “the desire to go out to sea”, because there are “people who have been unemployed since November, without working”.
And it is that, these “good” expectations with the first great appointment of the inshore fishing sector, is in contrast with the prohibition ruled by Europe to be able to directly capture horse mackerel (mackerel), which until now has led to an almost complete mooring of the seine boats.
High costs and few catches
“You can’t fish for mackerel, you can’t fish for sardines and you still can’t fish for anchovies… Why would we go out to sea with the price of fuel and expenses?” Nates wonders.
The mackerel (mackerel) does not emerge either, which in recent years has delayed its appearance until mid-March, although before it emerged in February and, together with horse mackerel, allowed the fleet to “warm up” while waiting for the arrival of the anchovy. has recalled the president of the Cantabrian brotherhoods.
For this reason, and if the weather conditions are good, the purse seiners will go out to fish next week to locate the anchovy banks close to their areas of influence and, then, navigate to the main centers of action, in order to take the consignments to auction at auctions.
“In recent years, a lot of anchovy has been found in the first two weeks of March, and it is no longer known if it is typical of the coast or of the open area that remains here,” explained César Nantes.
Measures to manage a higher quota
To manage the figure of 30,182 tons of the Total Allowable Catches (TAC) – an amount increased compared to the last campaign given that there are only 180 tons of fines remaining for overfishing a few years ago – the sector has established a series of measures to have this species throughout the year and ensure that it is of optimal size, both for fresh and canned.
In this sense, according to Nates, the amount reserved for the second semester of 2023 has been increased, so that “July and August will have 10% of the quota, and 5% from September”, which will also help seiners to alleviate the impossibility of being able to fish mackerel directly.
The number of pieces per kilo has also been limited to prevent a small anchovy from being taken out of the water, because fishermen are “the first ones who want to bring the large anchovies to port, since they are better paid,” he added.
However, Nates has recognized that the fishermen are waiting for how the product will be dispatched in the markets, since “the increase in the cost of production last year was not reflected in its sale price,” he lamented.
“There is a TAC that we did not have since the stop and the scientific reports last year on the biomass of the anchovy were acceptable, so the prospects are good”, concluded the president of the Cantabrian fishermen.