The Regional Government launched today the new support scheme for the temporary cessation of fishing activity in the archipelago, a measure aimed at contributing to the income of professionals in the sector, following the constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ordinance approving the regulation of this scheme was published in the Official Journal, with the Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology emphasising that this document "was favourably received" by the Azores Fisheries Federation and the Association of Fish Traders of the Azores.
According to Gui Menezes, the call for applications will be launched on Wednesday, July 1, providing an overall amount of 750 thousand Euros, and there are plans to launch a second call with the same financial allocation.
The Regional Secretary spoke in Horta at a press conference to present this new support scheme for the temporary cessation of fishing in the Azores.
Gui Menezes pointed out that this measure is directed to "all regional fleet segments." As he added, the financial support will take the form of "a non-refundable and proportional subsidy in accordance with the fleet segment, the type of fishing gear used and the fish auction income of each vessel."
The measure “provides financial support for optional temporary cessations for a maximum period of 60 days,” the government official said, noting that “due to the situation caused by COVID-19, the European Union has relaxed the rules and criteria on the financing of the optional cessation of fishing."
"It intends to support shipowners and fishers in the event that a vessel has to suspend its activity for health reasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said the Regional Secretary.
Gui Menezes also noted that this new scheme will “support fishing companies and regulate the quantity of fish unloaded in markets, thus providing an outlet for this product and avoiding a drop in fishers' income."
The Regional Secretary stressed that the supply of markets "will always be assured, seeing that only 50% of the fleet of each fishing port in the Region will be allowed to cease its activity."
Each cessation of fishing activity must have a minimum duration of 15 consecutive days, with the period between optional cessations not being less than five consecutive days.
The maximum period of optional cessation, per application, is set at 30 days in this first application period, which will cover the months of July and August.
The cessation of fishing activity for all regional fishing fleet vessels, with the exception of tuna vessels, should take place between July 1, the date when this scheme regime comes into force, and December 15, 2020. In the case of tuna vessels, the time limit is between July 1 and October 31, 2020.
Applications will be made online at the 2020 Desk.
The creation of this support scheme for the temporary cessation of fishing in the Azores "is another measure that falls within the measures adopted by the Regional Government to address the constraints caused by COVID-19 in the sector," stressed Gui Menezes. In this regard, he emphasised that the Government has provided support amounting to more than 1.3 million Euros to the fisheries sector since the beginning of the pandemic.