The Government of the Azores has just been notified of the decision of the inadmissibility of appeal which was lodged at the European Court of Justice in October 2008 regarding the liberalisation of our EEZ from 2004.

We consider the fact that the court has decided that the Region does not have the legal capacity to bring an action directly to the European legal system was a solution that did not take into account the real problem, a considerable depth and little fish.

We do not agree with the reasons for the decision of the court, as the fishing activity is indubitably an economic and social pillar in our Region, which has been part of our heritage and of our way of life over the centuries, and, thus any EU regulation that alters the exploitation patterns of the marine resources of our EEZ, directly influences the activities, not only of our fishers, but also of the population in general.

With the entry into force of the western waters regulation in 2004, the protection zone of the regional fleet was reduced from 200 to 100 miles, against the precautionary principle, a situation which led to an increase in fishing effort in this area sea, which is not in accordance with the sustainability principles advocated by the regulation of the common fisheries policy.

We will continue to fight persistently within the European Union under the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, in a joint effort with our international and community allies, with our local associations and our partners in the fisheries sector, as well as with our scientists in order to reintroduce the protection mechanisms of our EEZ that existed before 2004.

The Azores have already won some difficult battles to ensure the sustainability of fisheries in their territorial waters. Therefore, we will not give up fighting to defend the strategic interests of the Azores and of the European Union which, which might be compromised in this process.

The Regional Government believes that the principles of fisheries management in differentiated marine territories, according to their features, is the correct principle at an European level to ensure the economic viability of the sector in the long term, thereby guaranteeing the sustainability of fisheries in various European regions in a framework of equality of opportunities and social justice for the communities that exclusively depend upon local fishing resources to ensure their subsistence.

The reason and coherence of our opposition to the liberalisation of our waters up to 100 miles has been explicitly supported by the majority of the international scientific community on this matter and even by our allies, such as the case of the United States of America.

The recovery process of our EEZ that we have brought to the European courts, with the unanimous support of the fisheries sector and of the Azorean population, has also been an influence tool among the European Union to find search for more mechanisms to protect the Azorean Sea over the years.

By pressuring the Community institutions, we have managed that the use of the most predatory fishing gear – depth nets and bottom trawling – was prohibited in our waters, thus avoiding in our EEZ the fleets that use the aforementioned gear which is not used by our fishers and which would quick dilapidate our marine resources.

Due to our intervention among the European Union, we have managed to reintroduce the exclusivity for our fishing fleet for the capture of small pelagics, benthic species, demersal species and of some deep-sea species in our EEZ.

We are now working to extend the exclusivity of the fishing quotas in our waters to all deep-sea species in order to distribute them only to our fishing vessels.

But under the reform of the common fisheries policy we are also taking some important steps in a joint action with the remaining outermost species, so that we may continue to improve the protection of our EEZ and to fight for the future sustainability of our fisheries. We already have the agreement of all outermost regions to create an advisory board to defend to our outermost specificity within the European fisheries management as well as a common position to defend the 200-mile reserve for the fleets of the outermost regions.

The reopening of the negotiations on the reform of the common fisheries policy is an opportunity to implement the necessary adjustments in the Community fisheries management that best promotes the interests of the Azores and overcomes the drawbacks of this legal decision.