The Regional Director for Fisheries stated in Horta that employment contracts in the fishing sector are a way to "ensure the access of fishers to social benefits and bring dignity to this occupation."

Luís Costa spoke Monday at the second information session of the Awareness Campaign for the Improvement of Working Conditions on Fishing, addressed to Faial shipowners and members of Association of Producers of Demersal Species of the Azores (APEDA) and the Association of Tuna Producers and Similar Species (APASA).

This is an initiative of the Regional Secretariat of the Sea, Science and Technology that falls within the Regional Government's strategy to increase the income of fishers. It is intended to discuss issued related to legal scheme on employment contracts in the fishing sector and the Social Security contributory scheme applicable to professionals working in local and coastal fishing activities, catchers and fishers who hold a licence for shore fishing.

"We want to draw attention the attention of the sector to the need to improve the working conditions of fishers," the Regional Director said, defending "a gradual paradigm shift."

"The distribution of earnings in payments has been in force for many years and, for this reason, we are aware that this change cannot be carried out overnight," the government official said, noting that some Azorean shipowners have already established employment contracts for fishers.

However, Luís Costa admitted that, "with regard to small fishing vessels and a small-scale economy based on a family system," the establishment of employment contracts will not be easy."

The information session of the Awareness Campaign for the Improvement of Working Conditions on Fishing, held in Horta, was the second of four sessions; the first was held in December in Ponta Delgada.

The third session takes place today in Madalena, Pico, and the last will take place on Terceira in the first quarter of this year.

The Awareness Campaign for the Improvement of Working Conditions on Fishing has the support of the Azores Social Security Institute and the Azores Fisheries Federation.

The promotion of employment contracts for fishers is one of the measures listed in the document "Better Fisheries, More Income," presented by the Regional Government in April 2015 under within the Regional Fisheries Council.