FUNDOPESCA, a social protection tool created by the Government of the Azores in 2002, has already supported Azorean fishers in the amount of four million Euros.

The information was provided by the Regional Under Secretary of Fishing at the Legislative Assembly during an interpellation to the Government regarding the current situation of fisheries in the archipelago, submitted by the Bloco de Esquerda (Left Bloc).
 
According to Marcelo Pamplona, the activation of FUNDOPESCA earlier this year will support fishers in the amount of 400,000 Euros and it could be re-activated again in 2011 “if long-lasting bad weather conditions are an impediment to the exercise of fishing activities.”
The Regional Under Secretary also stressed the establishment in the archipelago of “a new support system for crew insurance,” in which the Government will subsidise nearly 40% of the cost of each insurance made by fishers.

“With this measure we will spend half a million Euros in the support of the maritime safety of some 2,500 fishers,” stated Marcelo Pamplona.

The Regional Under Secretary also mentioned the creation of a new model for calculating the years of service for fishers’ social security which, he explained, “takes into account the length of service at sea and the length of service on land in order to facilitate access of fisheries professionals to retirement benefits.”

The certification of “over half a thousand fishers who held temporary permits, which has allowed them to obtain this year their maritime certificate of competency this year and, thus, were able to exercise their profession on equal footing with the exercise of any other profession” was another of the governmental initiatives stressed by the Under Secretary of Fishing.

Marcelo Pamplona also said that “the boarding regulations for crews on fishing vessels is being implemented to reduce the operating costs of vessels,” adding that the Government will discuss with fisheries associations “a form to introduce in crew rolls contractual rules between the shipowner and the crew” in order “to further clarify of the rights and obligations of each party.”

The Regional Under Secretary also highlighted the implementation of a financial support scheme in the archipelago for young shipowners who wish to acquire fishing vessels already operating in the Azores Sea, as well as of an incentive scheme to remove from the regional fleet, local fishing vessels that do not have suitable conditions for the exercise of fishing.

Regarding the ongoing plan to build vessels, the Government has introduced the “possibility of shipowners with approved projects to change shipyard and continue to benefit from the incentive scheme, since there is no increase in the size and power of the vessel.”

According to Marcelo Pamplona, the Azorean Government also renegotiated with banks the protocols concerning the transfer of repayable loans to shipowners “in order to extend payment deadlines from seven to ten years.” The Government “will allocate an outright grant, subsidising the loan interests in 70%.”

Furthermore, added the Regional Under Secretary, the Government gave instructions to Lotaçor, being the guarantor of these Protocols, “to pay some instalments in case of necessity, without additional interest burden to shipowners.”