The Portuguese government is tightening restrictions on octopus fishing in the nation’s waters in an effort to protect stocks of the species.
The new restrictions involve staggered closures of the octopus fishery starting this summer, stricter requirements about gear removal during fishery closures, and new administrative responsibilities for fishers.
According to the Portugal Post, officials at the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety, and Maritime Services (DGRM) chose to stagger the fishery closures in order to preserve some access to octopus – a national delicacy in Portugal – during the nation’s high season for tourism in summer. Under the new plan, the coast is split into three sections, each of which will have its own octopus fishery closure.
The northernmost section of the coastline is currently closed for octopus fishing, a closure which started on 17 July and will end on 15 August. The nation’s central and southern waters will be closed from 16 August to 14 September and 15 September to 14 October, respectively.
The new regulations are more onerous than they were in the past and now require fishers to have their licenses temporarily suspended during the closures, which means they can only use their boats in emergencies or to move them into port.
The stringent new requirements are intended to cut down on passive catch and bycatch during the summer months, when octopi reproduce most rapidly. Fishers who break the rules are subject to large fines, gear seizure, and to forfeiting their European subsidies for the rest of the season.
Along with the other changes, the government began a push to clean up abandoned or lost gear in octopus fishers on 3 August. In its statement about the new rules, the DGRM pointed out that most ghost gear currently in national waters is made of plastic, and its removal complies with the National Action Plan for Marine Litter, to which Portugal is committed.
