Armalgarve Polvo – Association of Octopus Fishing Owners of the Algarve warned, this Friday, in a statement, about the lack of bait for octopus fishing. According to the association, "there are already boats that have stopped going to sea."
Armalgarve complains that sardines and mackerel, fish used as bait, have shown insufficient discharges at auction.
In the week of July 25th to 29th, the association reveals, the Quarteira fish market sold 1,246 kilos of sardines at an average price, per kilo, of 4,49 euros. In Olhão, in the same period of time, fishing did not reach 1000 kilos, remaining at 809.
As for mackerel, in Quarteira, 1,596 kilos were captured at an average price of 50 cents.
According to Armalgarve, «in the Algarve alone, around 10 tons of bait are used daily, so the discharges in recent weeks have not been sufficient to meet the demand in this market». And he adds: "consequently, the catches of the octopus have registered a sharp decrease, which is reflected in the revenue of the shipowners".
The situation has already been reported by the association to the Office of the Secretary of State for Fisheries, the Algarvian José Apolinário, and the Directorate General for Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services.
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