The General Secretary for Fisheries, Isabel Artime, held a meeting with the Deputy Minister of the Primary Sector of the Canary Islands, Eduardo García Cabello.
Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación
The bluefin tuna campaign 2025 in the Canary Islands, Spain, began on January 20, marking an advance of nine days compared to the previous year. Up to 250 vessels are authorized to fish a quota of 537.69 tons of bluefin tuna in the Canary fishing grounds.
The sector requested this measure to take advantage of the species' passage through the waters of the fishing grounds. There are catch limits based on the type and size of the vessel to optimize fishing opportunities throughout the campaign.
Additionally, the optimization mechanism established for the fishing of bigeye tuna, another species of great interest to the Canarian fleet, has been positively evaluated, as it allows for improved utilization of the available quota by artisanal fishing and purse-seine tuna boats.
Finally, the General Secretary for Fisheries, Isabel Artime, stated that the use of the excess fishing capacity of the Canarian fleet will be considered to carry out modernization projects for the vessels in the fleet.
The bluefin tuna campaign in the Canary Islands will have two fishing periods: from January 20 to May 30, and from June 4 to December 31.
The allocation criterion is set at 90% of the quota for purse-seine tuna boats and small-scale artisanal vessels, with the remaining 10% distributed equally among vessels under 12 meters in length overall.
The individual limit for each vessel will be increased by 22.5% during the first period, and during the second period, any unused quota will be redistributed among all vessels without individual restrictions.
The Basque technology center AZTI and Balfegó, a leading company in the capture, feeding, research, and commercialization of bluefin tuna, presented in October 2024 an offshore aquaculture pilot that aims to revitalize this species fishing in the Cantabrian Sea.
The aim is to establish a successful model for bluefin tuna farming that could lead to the installation of additional cages by 2026, depending on fishing quotas allocated to fattening projects.