Sardine fishing reopened at 00:00 today, May 17, after almost seven months of interdiction, but with a limit of 10 thousand tons and days in which the toil can be carried out.
By order of the Secretary of State for Fisheries published in Diário da República on the 6th of May, the Government defined that, until July 31, the global limit of sardines captured with the art of siege will be of 10 thousand tons.
This amount will be divided between the group of vessels whose shipowners or owners are members of producer organizations (PO) recognized for sardines and the group of vessels whose shipowners or owners are not members of POs recognized for sardines, corresponding to each of the groups, respectively, 9.850 tons and 150 tons.
On the other hand, "the capture, maintenance on board, unloading and sale of sardines on all days of national holidays is prohibited", as well as the transfer of sardines to a fish auction other than the one corresponding to the port of unloading and the unloading in more of a port during each day with the same vessel.
There is also a weekend break period, which varies according to the areas of jurisdiction of the captaincies: in Lagos, Portimão and Sagres, as well as in Faro Vila Real de Santo António, the stop is from 18pm on Friday to 00pm on Sunday.
From Caminha to Figueira da Foz it will be from 00:00 on Saturday until 00:00 on Monday, from Nazaré to Lisbon it will be from 12:00 on Saturday until 12:00 on Monday, and in Setúbal and Sines from 20:00 on Friday until at 20:00 on Sunday.
Depending on the fishery management needs and the evolution of the data collected, the setting of the sardine discharge limit for the period beginning on 1 August may be changed by order of the Director General for Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services .
The order recalls that «the sardine fishing is managed jointly by Portugal and Spain, which, in a precautionary approach, have been setting catch limits, in accordance with scientific advice».
The latest assessment, published on June 18, 2020 by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), “showed the recovery of the sardine stock (pilchardus sardina) in the 8c and 9a divisions of ICES, with biomass increasing from 117,3 thousand tons in 2015 to 344,1 thousand tons in 2020 (+193 %), confirming the recovery of the resource's biomass to levels that exceed the maximum yield sustainable'.
For this reason, Portugal and Spain presented to the European Commission, in January this year, a multi-annual plan for the period 2021 to 2026 for the management of sardines in the 8c and 9a divisions of ICES, which «in addition to integrating an exploitation rule for setting the annual level of catches, it includes complementary measures aimed at protecting juveniles and strengthening scientific campaigns to assess the state of the resource».
However, new scientific information is available from the autumn 2020 and spring 2021 campaigns that "will allow, in the short term, to obtain an updated estimate of the current size of the resource in Ibero-Atlantic waters".
This reassessment will take place at ICES level until June, and "will allow, together with the validation of the exploitation rule contained in the plan, to review the recommended catch limits for 2021".
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