Spain achieves additional fishing days to operate in the Mediterranean Sea

Spain has secured a 5% increase in additional days for the bottom trawling fleet operating in the Mediterranean Sea. This translates into 6,116 days for 2024, which represents nearly two more weeks of activity.

The first condition has been the establishment of a fishing ban on bottom trawling by Spanish vessels in the Mediterranean at depths greater than 800 meters.

Secondly, the fleet must stop for four consecutive weeks. This was already regulated in the same Annex III of the aforementioned ministerial order and was modified last February.

Finally, the compensation mechanism includes a voluntary third measure that involves establishing a mesh change from size of 45 mm to 50 mm for coastal fishing, and the use of fly-shooting doors for deep-sea fishing, at the discretion of the shipowner.

To qualify for over 1,200 additional fishing days from the remaining 1% of the compensation mechanism, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food will issue a call to encourage the implementation of this measure which is available already in 70 vessels.

Through this, the Ministry has shown its "commitment" to the fishing sector and to responsible resource management, with a comprehensive approach to sustainability in its environmental, social, and economic aspects, as recognized in the Common Fisheries Policy and the Sustainable Fisheries Law and Fisheries Research.

During the Global Seafood Expo in Barcelona, celebrated from 23-25 April 2024, the first restorative aquaculture centre in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea was presented. The centre will be located in La Rapita, Cataluña, Spain, and is expected to open by the end of 2024.