Fishermen in the Balearic Islands are furious over the EU Council of Ministers’ decision to cut trawler fishing hours by 7.5% next year.
Fishermen are already banned from fishing for one day a week between January and May and according to the Balearic Federation of Fishermen's Confraries these new regulations mean they’ll lose an extra 12 fishing days ever year.
Federation Manager, Antoni Garau, says Fishermens' Federations in the western Mediterranean are opposed to the measure which they say will have a huge economic impact the Sector.
"Negotiations by the Spanish Ministry have failed," says Garau who claims that the Central Government, Regional Government and the Fishermen Sector had agreed that no more restrictions would be implemented in 2021.
“They make it difficult for the fishing boats to be viable," says Garau. “This decision was made without sufficient scientific information and without taking into account the effects of the pandemic."
The Federation says that to guarantee minimum profit, the boats need to go to out 200 days of the year, but at the moment they’re only allowed to fish on 180 days and the new regulations will limit their catch even more.
Garau has accused the EU of making a political decision "to satisfy other interests" but trusts that new measures will be introduced that will allow Balearic boats to operate at a profit.