The Ordinance stipulating the division of the red seabream quota for the Azores per island, respecting the capture history, was published today in the Official Journal.
According to the Regional Secretariat for the Sea, Science and Technology, the document aims to ensure a "fair and equitable division" of the quota assigned to the Azores and allow each island to "rationally" manage this resource.
The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology intends that fishers from each island of the archipelago be entitled to manage the quota allocated to them "in order to concentrate the fishing effort in the months when the species reaches higher values in auction."
"The 507 tonnes of annual red seabream quota allocated to the Region in 2017 and 2018 will be divided by the archipelago's fleet, island by island," based on their catch history. This will allow each island to "rationally manage this important resource," said Gui Menezes.
In order to ensure the full use of the Region's quota for 2017, the maximum volume of authorised catches for each island may be changed as a result of the agreements between the associations representing the fishing fleet of each island and the registration of the catches actually made throughout the year.
The Region has managed to maintain the red seabream quota at 507 tonnes for the next biennium, after the successful round of negotiations of the EU Fisheries Council held in Brussels in November.
Today, the Government also published in the Official Journal a decree establishing a new minimum catch size for red seabream, which is now set at 33 centimetres or 550 grams, as stipulated in the EU Fisheries Council.
In August this year, after discussion in Regional Fisheries Council, the Regional Government had already moved forward with an increase in the minimum size for red seabream from 30 centimetres or 400 grams to 32 centimetres or 500 grams.
"The establishment of a minimum size is an important measure in terms of resource management," said the Regional Secretary. He added that "it reduces the catches of juvenile specimens, enhancing the reproductive capacity of the species and promoting the capture of larger specimens, whose price at auction is higher."