Feijóo will meet this Thursday with the fishing sector to analyze the veto on bottom fishing

MADRID / VIGO, 28 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, will meet this Thursday in Vigo with the fishing sector, represented by Cepesca, to analyze the situation and problems of fishermen, in a context marked by the closure decreed by the European Commission to the activity bottom fishing in 87 traditional fishing areas in Spain, Portugal, France and Ireland, scheduled to enter into force on October 9, as well as the processing of the draft Law on Sustainable Fishing and Fisheries Research.

Specifically, Cepesca, a member of the European Bottom Fishing Alliance (EBFA), will explain to Feijóo its intention to file an appeal before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

According to the sector, which does not rule out the call for strikes and demonstrations, the veto on bottom fishing will have a "very negative" impact on the future of bottom fishing in the Northeast Atlantic and, therefore, on more than 10,000 fishermen in the European Union.

The closed area covers 16,419 square kilometers, between 400 and 800 meters deep, in which the European Commission alleges the existence of vulnerable marine ecosystems or the possibility that they exist.

The sector denounces that the Execution Regulation has not had the corresponding mandatory consultations or an analysis of the socioeconomic impact and is also based on reports that the scientists themselves acknowledge have gaps or that the best available scientific information has not been used, since it has a better resolution and could have considerably reduced the socioeconomic impact while protecting vulnerable marine ecosystems.

In this sense, the sector applauds the request made by the PP to "reorient" European regulations to guarantee the triple "social, economic and environmental" sustainability of the fishing sector and more specifically to prevent the European Commission from prohibiting "unilaterally " bottom fishing in 87 areas.

Likewise, Cepesca will discuss with the leader of the PP the situation of the Mediterranean, the repercussions for the fishing sector of the European Green Deal and the Biodiversity Strategy, CITES, the Control Regulation or the need to adopt measures to encourage the consumption of fish.

In this regard, Cepesca will thank Núñez Feijóo for his request to the Government to reduce VAT on fish from 10% to 4%, a "constant" demand of the sector.

Finally, Cepesca will put on the table the scarce presence of Spanish officials in relevant positions in the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE) and the importance of having MEPs interested in fishing in the European Parliament in the next legislature.