Arrantzales unload bonito in the port of Getaria. /
The Basque Government explains that the campaign is being more “slow” and ensures that the prices in the market compensate for the rise in diesel
The Director of Fisheries of the Basque Government, Leandro Azkue, estimates that the coastal tuna fishery will conclude, in principle, this very month of September, since 60% of the assigned quota has been exceeded.
In an interview granted to the Ser chain, the person in charge of Fisheries of the Basque Executive assured yesterday that the catches of this species “are going well” and that 60% of the Spanish quota of bonito from the North has been exceeded because “it is already fished”.
Therefore, he indicated that the “final stretch” of the coastal line is already being faced, which, given the rates of capture, will end in September “if things do not go wrong.”
Azkue assured that it is being a “more leisurely” coastal activity than in the last three years, exercises in which the bonito entered the Bay of Biscay “very soon” and the catches were concluded for August.
However, pointed out the person in charge of Fisheries, the most common coastal one is like the one that is being experienced in this exercise and that leads to its conclusion at the end of September or the beginning of October.
Given the increase in the price of fuel for the fishermen as a result of the energy crisis due to the war in Ukraine and the pressure on supplies to Europe from Russia, the Director of Fisheries pointed out that the price at the fish market is compensating the fishermen.
As he stressed, the fact that this year the supply is “more leisurely” means that the price of the fish market rises as there is less product, so that there is a difference of approximately 50 or 70 cents more expensive per kilo of bonito than last year, which is standing at an average of 4.30-4.40 euros.
some help
“Looking at the diesel situation, which is one of the important expenses for this fleet, with exorbitant prices, this higher price in the market helps, in some way, to compensate for this rise in fuel prices,” he stated.
In relation to the Basque tuna vessels that fish in Senegalese waters and that have been unemployed for months due to lack of licences, Azkue assured that, at the end of June, the Government of that country proceeded to issue the respective fishing licenses and is fishing “with a certain normality”.
The director of Fisheries stressed that efforts are being made to try to compensate them for the five months of stoppage but that “they have not been successful” so work continues to “ask for what is fair for this fleet that, without fault, or art nor part, it has been stopped for five months ».