The new inshore campaign of the Basque fleet begins

This Friday the new inshore campaign of the Basque fleet that has just started has been presented. These are the provisional quotas for 2022 for the main inshore species: mackerel, 8,500 tons; anchovy, 25,250 tons and Bonito del Norte, 17,700 tons.

At a press conference held in San Sebastián, the Basque Government’s director of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Leandro Azkue, the president of the Federation of Guilds of Gipuzkoa, Eugenio Elduayen, and the director of Opegui, Miren Garmendia, presented the challenges and expectations for this 2022 inshore fishing campaign.

Eugenio Elduayen has highlighted the importance of the operation of mackerel and mackerel quotas, clarifying that quota management for these species is shared. Which means that the Basque Fishing Federations, since the quota is distributed, can self-manage it and make an objective and equitable distribution of it among the Euskadi inshore fleet. In addition, the president of the Federation of Brotherhoods of Guipúzcoa has announced that work is currently being carried out with the aim of being able to self-manage anchovy and bonito quotas from the Basque Country, fundamental species for the Basque inshore fleet that in 2021 represented the 83% of the turnover of the sector. This would allow increasing the profitability of these two species.

The Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Basque Government, Leandro Azkue, for his part, has underlined that last season was very competitive with increases in catches of species such as Albacore, by 9%, or anchovies, by 37%, despite the pandemic. Azkue hopes that this campaign that is beginning can be carried out more normally.

This year, if the health situation allows it, it may be possible to recover the Antxoa Eguna, or the Hegaluze Eguna, and the director of Fisheries wanted to call on the public to participate in these events, but above all to consume seasonal fish.