The inshore fleet of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa asks to “self-manage” anchovy and bonito quotas

This Friday, the new inshore campaign of the Basque fleet for 2022, the International Year of Artisanal Fishing and Aquaculture, was presented. These are the 2022 provisional installments for the main inshore species in the Spanish State: mackerel, 8,500 tons; anchovy, 25,250 tons and Bonito del Norte, 17,700 tons. From the Federation of Guilds of Gipuzkoa they have pointed out that the inshore fleet has the “highest quotas in the last ten years” and that the Basque fishermen face it “with enthusiasm”.

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 functioning of quotas from mackerel and of mackerel, clarifying that quota management in 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. It also allows for a “higher return.” In addition, the president of the Federation of Brotherhoods of Guipúzcoa has announced that at the moment they are working with the spirit of being able to self-manage from Euskadi the quotas of the anchovy and the nicefundamental species for the Basque inshore fleet that accounted for 83% of the sector’s turnover in 2021, and that “does not provide adequate profitability”.

The Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Basque Government, Leandro Azkuéhas stressed that the Olympic fishing, which has been going on for 50 years, for anchovies and bonito, should be managed “in a more modern way”, in view of the “results of the management methods of other species”.

On the other hand, Azkue highlighted that last season was very competitive with increases in catches of species such as Albacore, by 9%, or anchovy, 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.