The Câmara de Lagos will subscribe to a motion launched by the municipality of Nazaré in defense of "a set of alternative proposals and measures to those advocated by the European Commission" with regard to the sustainability and quotas of purse seine fishing, which includes that of the sardine.
"The subscribing entities of the motion consider that the allocated fishing quotas and the restrictions set by the European Union for species such as sardines, horse mackerel and anchovy, are insufficient and contradictory with the scientific data regarding the biomass of these species present on our coast", says the Chamber of Lagos
The signatories intend, on the other hand, "to draw attention to the socio-economic implications arising from the intermittence imposed on the activity of seine fishing and to the importance of the species in question in the eating habits of the Portuguese".
Among the proposals of the Câmara da Nazaré to which Lagos subscribes is the restructuring and modernization of the national siege fleet, the call for a broader analysis of the factors influencing the sardine stock that is not restricted exclusively to the fishing effort – «that, it should be noted, it has decreased in recent years" -, and the commitment to scientific research carried out by IPMA - Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere, "together with knowledge transfer channels that allow fishermen to carry out their activity with a minor degree of unpredictability'.
The motion also provides for "the subscription of the position of the Iberian sardine fishing associations that intend to increase the catch quota for this species to 30.000 tons in 2020".
The decision to undersign this position taken by the municipality of Nazaré was taken at the last Council Meeting of Lagos and stems from «a context of strengthening the role of fishing activities and their ranks as endogenous resources and identity of the territory and the recovery in the council for investments in industrial activities associated with the processing of fish, a sector that has an important historical and cultural weight in the memory and identity of Lacobrigense».
The municipality will make this position known to a wide range of bodies from European, national, municipal and associative institutions in the sector.
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