“There will be 143 days of fishing for the fleet”

The keys

new
Generated with AI

The Spanish Mediterranean fleet will maintain the same 143 fishing days in 2026 as in 2024, without new selectivity requirements.

Brussels has proposed a 65% reduction in fishing days, but the agreement allows current activity and red shrimp catch limits to be maintained.

In the Atlantic, Spain manages to reduce proposed reductions for species such as sole and haddock, and maintains the hake quota for 2026.

For mackerel, the EU sets provisional catch limits of 70% for the first six months of 2026, pending agreements with other countries.

The European Union concluded an agreement early this Saturday on the distribution of fishing quotas in community waters which allows the Spanish fleet in the Mediterranean maintain this year’s working days in 2026.”We obtained a good result: there will be 143 days of fishing for the fleet without additional selectivity measures”, declared the minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Planas.

The conversation was “more difficult” than in previous years due to the very restrictive negotiating basis proposed by the European executive. “It’s an obvious success” Planas detailed the agreement reached and the measures implemented by the sector.

Brussels has requested a 65% reduction in working days, to just 9.7 days, with the possibility of returning to a level of activity similar to that of 2024, i.e. approximately 130 days if new measures are taken into account compensation – something the government and industry viewed with some suspicion.

A group of wild boars in Castile and León

Apart from the flying doors and the change of fence applied during this year, Brussels proposals to ban fishing activity with red shrimp trawlers in waters at depths less than 600 meters. Also a veto on trawling depths less than 800 meters.

Finally, the EU has decided to extend the catch limits of red shrimp for 2025 in Spanish and French waters to next year, doing the same with other similar species from Italian waters.

Cups

Inside Atlantic caseSpain managed to mitigate the reduction proposed by the European Commission in species like Cantabrian solefrom the 28% proposed to the final 9%, while that of the Gulf of Biscay will be reduced by 1%. Same scenario for the pollock which suffers a slight cut in the requested by Brusselsof the initial 26%, 13% were accepted, according to Europe Press.

Concerning hake, the most emblematic and precious species of the Iberian fishing zonesSpain maintains the quota for next year in order to be able to fish until 17,445 tonnes of this speciesa character Planas called “magnificent” upon his arrival at the meeting.

On the other side is mackerel, a species awaiting distribution agreements with coastal states such as Norway. The EU, following scientific advice, has agreed interim catch limits of 70% for the first six months of 2026, pending an agreement being reached.