The Asian seaweed, the rise in fuel prices, the decline in species due to climate change and, now also, the closure of Moroccan fishing grounds have placed the Andalusian fishing fleet in a critical situation. The sum of adverse circumstances prevents many boats from going out to fish and supporting the families that live in the sector.
However, the aid authorized by the Government after the end of the agreement with Morocco, published in the BOE this Monday, barely reaches four vessels, which has led the Andalusian Government to point out an alleged comparative grievance.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has enabled aid, co-financed between the European Commission and the Government, for the ships and crew members affected by the end of the protocol, through the “temporary stop” line of the European Maritime Fund and the Fisheries (FEMP), with the aim of expediting the receipt of funds.
But not all the vessels that have fished in Moroccan waters in recent years have access to these subsidies, since many of them have already exhausted their right to receive funds from the European Union during the biological stops made.
The FEMP establishes that no vessel may receive co-financed aid for a period of more than 6 months within the framework of the plan's validity.. And most of the Andalusian ships have already exhausted them due to the temporary stops in the Gulf of Cádiz, which take place in December and January, as stated in the Management Plan for the Seine in the Gulf of Cádiz and approved every year in the sectoral conference, which brings together the Ministry and the autonomous communities.
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Carmen Crespo, lamented this Monday the “uncertainty and defenselessness” experienced by fishermen in the Gulf of Cádiz. “We have had up to 47 boats working in these waters in the past”, since it is one of the “traditional” fishing grounds for the Andalusian fleet.
Crespo recalls that the EU negotiation with Morocco could be delayed indefinitely, pending a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union that clarifies whether the agreements signed in the past affect (in part) waters over which Morocco would not have jurisdiction, since they would depend on the Sahara.
The counselor insisted that many of the affected vessels already exhausted their rights in February. “Yes, they can receive this aid, on the contrary, the affected fishermen from Galicia and the Canary Islands, which means, according to the counselor, “putting our fishermen at a clear disadvantage.”
Crespo also demanded that the Government of Spain press both the European Union and Morocco, so that they work on a new fishing agreement so that, when the Court of Justice of the EU pronounces, the negotiation is already advanced.
The Government, for its part, recalls that Spain obtained 92 of the 128 licenses to fish in Moroccan waters, but only 21 boats (11 from Andalusia and 10 from the Canary Islands) requested a license in 2021 and 2022 or in 2023. In addition, only 11 fished for at least 20 days in the 2021 to 2023 triennium and meet the requirement set by the European Commission of not having received more than 180 days of aid for temporary stoppage in the FEMP period (2014 to 2023).. Therefore, the boats that can make use of this aid due to the end of the fishing protocol are only 7 from the Canary Islands and 4 from Andalusia.
The Government is studying, however, other State aid to compensate more vessels affected by the end of the protocol, including 6 from Andalusia, which have fished for more than 20 days between 2021 and 2023, but have already received the aid cap per stop, charged to European funds, of 180 days.
According to the representatives of the sector, the lack of fish in the fishing ground and the high price of fuel, among other circumstances, have meant that the fishing agreement between the EU and Morocco has not been profitable in this last cycle for the fishing boats in the Cadiz towns. from Barbate and Conil de la Frontera. Hence, the number of vessels that fish in Moroccan waters has been declining in recent years, as the Ministry has verified.
«In 2019, 3,700,000 euros of Moroccan fish were sold at the Barbate market. In 2022 the figure dropped to 240,000 and in 2023 only 20,000 euros have been sold”, explains Inés Foncubierta, manager of the organization that brings together fishing boats from the Cadiz town of Barbate, in statements to EFE.
In fact, none of the boats that had even paid the license for this last quarter has come to fish in Moroccan waters in recent weeks. “If before, diesel cost 3,000 euros to go to fish in Morocco, now it is 50% more expensive and the price of fish is the same,” adds Foncubierta. Added to the rise in costs is the scarcity of fish due to the overpopulation of tuna, which are tough competition for fishing boats, since measures were taken to recover them in the area.
In addition, “the Moroccan fleet has been growing”, explains Nicolás Fernández, secretary of the Federation of Fishermen's Associations of Cádiz and manager of the Organization of Artisanal Fisheries Producers of Conil, who also points out that the Moroccan fleet is not obliged to do the two months of biological shutdown that European ships do have to respect.