The Government of the Azores is preparing new legislation to impede the unloading by trawlers of certain fish species that are found outside the three-mile coastal limit.
This initiative of the Government of Carlos César is a response to the fishing activities of trawlers from the island of São Miguel in the waters of the islands os Flores and Corvo.
Responding to a parliamentary inquiry on this matter, the Government assured that it will install monitoring equipment on coastal trawlers that fish on the waters of the islands of the Oriental Group in order to protect the Natural Reserve and Biosphere of the island of Corvo.
The Government also assured that it "did not authorise nor is considering authorising any trawler to change its port of origin."
The Government underlined the fact that the new Political-Administrative Statute of the Azores permits regional institutions to alter the legislation concerning the regulation of the fisheries sector. These new powers allow for the possibility of formulating, in a constructive dialogue with the fishermen, a new regulatory legislation that is adequate to the specificities of the Azores.