Over two and a half years, the “Tertúlias do Polvo” brought together fishermen, shipowners' associations, government institutions and researchers. One of the “most consensual” conclusions for the management of this fishery was the creation of a period of defense for the capture of octopus in the Algarve. But José Apolinário, Secretary of State for Fisheries, does not see "conditions" for this to be implemented.
The Green Book on Octopus Fishing in the Algarve, which brings together the set of ideas and opinions that were discussed in these gatherings, was presented by the Center for Marine Sciences (CCMar) of the University of Algarve (UAlg) at the beginning of June.
Mafalda Rangel, a researcher at CCMar, explained to the Sul Informação that the objective of the gatherings “was to understand how to manage the octopus fishery”.
"We drew several conclusions and had a series of opinions, but the most consensual were the implementation of a closed season for the octopus, as well as all the measures that have to do with the connection between the scientific community and fishermen," he said.
The issue of closed-off stands out in the list of these conclusions who, deep down, want to alleviate the lack of octopus stock. “During the get-togethers, a proposal was made that had a temporal, geographic and was adaptive definition. In other words: from time to time, you had to review how the stock was, to adapt the closed season, which would be 1 or 2 months, depending on the state of the fishery», he said.
Faced with this issue, José Apolinário, Secretary of State for Fisheries, who attended the launch of the book, considered "there are no conditions for a subsidized closure", not least because the octopus is not a species considered at biological risk.
In statements to the Sul Informação, the government official proposed, instead, that "octopus fishing should stop at the weekend".
«There is a challenge here in the Algarve which is not having landings on the weekend. There must also be a commitment from the octopus fishermen to guarantee that the minimum catch size, of 750 grams, is met, as well as to reduce the number of gears that are in the sea», defended José Apolinário.
Mafalda Rangel explained, in turn, that, at the gatherings, there was talk of "the possibility of increasing the minimum size of capture, but the community does not want that".
As for the closed season, the researcher acknowledged that it would have to be "voluntary", with "fishermen implementing it as they consider it a way of managing the resource".
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