The Spanish government and the fisheries sector welcomed new fishing quotas for 2014 for the European Union, which include important increases in fishing quotas for the main species for the Spanish fleet.
E.U. fisheries ministers reached agreement on the 2014 allocation of fishing quotas on 17 December in Brussels, after two days of negotiations.
The Spanish fisheries minister, Miguel Arias Cañete, highlighted hake, a species which has "achieved a historic increase in our quota, with a rise of 49 percent in comparison with 2013 in Gran Sol and Bay of Biscay."
Southern Cantabrian Sea and Bay of Biscay hake stock went up by 15 percent, as did anglerfish quotas. Regarding national fishing grounds, the ministers established an increase in quotas of Northwest Cantabrian Sea and in the Bay of Biscay. Megrim quotas went up by 86 percent, quotas for blue whiting went up by 71 percent, and mackerel was raised 28 percent.
The Spanish Fisheries Ministry also noted the achievement of keeping the same quotas as in 2013 for Cantabrian pollock and Gran Sol and Bay of Biscay megrim, since the commission originally considered a decrease by 20 percent.
On the other hand, the quota of Norwegian lobster did decrease, by 9 percent, in the VII area.
The Secretary General of the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (Cepesca), Javier Garat, also highlighted the result of the negotiation and noted the increase of quotas to the "effort and sacrifice by the fleet in recent years and the comprehensive management and control policy applied in Spain, which confirms the positive trend in the evolution of the main fish stocks for Spanish fishermen."
Garat also thanked the Spanish Fishery Minister and its team for their good work in the negotiation.
