Fishing sector | EU restrictions curtail a quarter of Vigo’s fishing muscle in 10 years

2023-04-22 10:50:39

The muscle of Galician extractive fishing is at risk. And, by extension, its maximum exponent faces the same uncertain scenario: the one that is concentrated around the vigo portEuropean leader in fresh fish and one of the most relevant globally. The progressive thinning of the primary sector affects the daily activity of O Berbés, as confirmed by both the fleet records and the auction balances. The industry is not immune to the growing regulatory pressure coming from the European Commission, exacerbated in recent months with a veto on bottom fishing that will go further, which will accelerate with the reserve of up to 30% of community waters or with the guidelines to decarbonise – without aid, for the moment – ​​ships.

And neither is it due to the lack of generational relief, the exodus of professionals to other fishing grounds and the increase in the cost of inputs, such as fuels, plastics or ice. Only in a decade, since the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), fishing for Vigo has lost a quarter of its capacityexpressed in GT tons (gross tonnage or gross tonnage), according to the official records of the Consellería do Mar.

The evolution of fishing in Vigo.

Today, with the sale of the Portomayor fishing boat and after the shipwreck of the Villa de Pitanxo –both with a Vigo page–, in the city they appear as registered 111 boats. What is relevant, in order to assess a reduction in vessels, is to analyze the capacity in GT. Most of the units that make up the fleet in Galicia are of smaller gear, of very little length and gross tonnage, and the scrapping of a hundred of these vessels can be equivalent to the loss of a single trawler, for example. At the end of 2012, there were 140 vessels with more than 55,300 GT in the port of Olívico, and now there are less than 43,000. Is a decrease of almost 23%an enormous damage to the critical mass of a strategic sector and around which the city was structured in its beginnings. mau river (Morocco), Nuevo Laredo (France), Adexe First (Cameroon), open (Senegal) o New Log (Namibia) are some of the Vigo-registered vessels lost in the last three years. All of great capacity. Without counting, in addition, units like the Skellig Light IIfrom Vigo and which sold the results of its work at the O Berbés market, and which has been scrapped in recent weeks.

Río Mau (to Morocco), Nuevo Laredo (France), Adexe Primero (Cameroon), Abrela (Senegal) or Nuevo Bitácora (Namibia) are some of the Vigo-registered vessels lost in the last three years

Less capacity, less offshore activity and lower economic results in the pit. Between January 1 and this April 21, less than 5,800 tons of fish were brought up in Vigo, according to the Galician Fisheries portal of the Xunta. Is 40% less than the balance registered in the same period of the financial year 2012, and a figure lower than all previous years. As a consequence, and despite the increase in the cost of some species that have raised the value of the average price per kilogram, auction turnover has plummeted another 20.6% in the same decade. Regardless of the financial year with which the comparison is made –without counting the year of the pandemic–, this 2023 is worse in all records; so far this year, revenues were below 25 million euros, compared to 31.5 million in the same period of 2012 or 32.5 in 2018.

• the current census

  It is made up of 111 ships, registered in Vigo, with a capacity – expressed in GT, which is gross tonnage or gross tonnage – of less than 43,000. It is a quarter lower than it was just ten years ago.

• Income

  The loss of extractive muscle penalizes the results of the Vigo market, with a loss of 40% of the auction turnover. So far this year, these revenues do not reach 25 million.

• The exodus

  As a consequence of the lack of profitability and the lack of relief, many vessels are exported to other fishing grounds, especially Mauritania or Morocco.

• The future

  Brussels has warned that it will persevere in the restrictions on bottom fishing, in addition to vetoing 30% of European waters.

The future does not look rosy. Brussels intends to persevere in the restrictions on fishing with bottom gear, such as trawling or longlining, and has already implemented a regulation without having a socioeconomic impact report and without scientific data on the trace of fixed gear in the bottom of the sea. The new opinion of the scientists who advise the European Commission, even without knowing – as they admit – to what extent longlining affects vulnerable ecosystems, increases the areas where this activity is expected to be vetoed.