PCP MEP asks Brussels about tuna quotas in the Azores

Communist Party MEP Sandra Pereira today asked the European Commission (EC) to conduct periodic studies to assess the status of fisheries resources in relation to the tuna quota for the Azores.

After a recent trip to the Azores, the MEP states that “in contact with fishermen and associations representing the fishing sector in the region, the issue of quotas was raised again.”

According to Sandra Pereira, fishermen in the Azores are “calling for a comprehensive study of the state of the region’s resources because they believe there is some discrepancy between what they see in the sea and the established catch limits.”

“They also refer to changes in resources from year to year, especially in species such as tuna, showing unadjusted quotas,” the MEP emphasizes, noting that “currently the national quota for bigeye tuna is 3,100 tons, of which approx. 2,800 tons are allocated to the Azores and Madeira as a whole.”

The MP states that one of the demands of the Azores Fisheries Federation is that “a specific independent quota be allocated only to the most remote regions, even taking into account the type of fishery practiced, highly selective, polar and highly sustainable.” fishing”.

The European Parliament asks the head of the Community what measures it intends to take to support Member States, “instead of limiting them, as hitherto, in developing their own human and technical resources” with the aim of “ensuring the sovereign implementation of periodic studies assessing state of resources.”

Sandra Pereira also asks the EC, “taking into account the fair demands of the industry, what measures it is considering to adopt more adequate fishing quotas for bigeye and bluefin tuna.”