The Diplomat in Spain

The Diplomat

Next January 1st will come into force the agreement that will govern the fishing activity of the Spanish and Portuguese fleets in the bordering waters of both countries.

The agreement was signed last June 28 in Luxembourg by the Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, and the Portuguese Minister of the Sea, Ricardo Serrao Santos. The Spanish Parliament concluded the ratification procedure on December 17, so that the agreement can enter into force on the scheduled date.

The text, which was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and gives continuity to the one signed in 1986, governs the conditions for the exercise of the fishing activity carried out by the Spanish and Portuguese fleets in the bordering waters, both in the mouths of the Miño and Guadiana rivers and in the waters of Portuguese and Spanish sovereignty or jurisdiction in the Atlantic Ocean, and allows improving the management of the resources and giving greater stability to the fleets of both countries.

According to this agreement, which is valid for five years, extendable for two more, the trawlers of each country will have to respect the established schedules of activity in the waters of the other country (a claim of the Spanish fleet, which by national regulations is obliged to stop during the weekend). The text also includes the authorization to land in Spanish and Portuguese ports, regardless of where the first sale is to be made later, prohibits the bow train (a gear used in trawling that causes significant ecological damage) in Spanish waters and harmonizes management measures, such as the biological closure for trawling in the Gulf of Cadiz.

These measures respond to the demands of the Spanish sector, especially the Northwest Cantabrian trawl fleet and the purse seine and trawl fleets in the Gulf of Cadiz, which have been requesting a stable, lasting and equal agreement with the neighboring country’s fleet.