The Regional Secretariat for Natural Resources welcomed the favourable outcome of negotiations to reinforce the bigeye tuna quota made available for Portugal. The Regional Directorate for Fisheries is already preparing in conjunction with the Directorate-General of Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Resources the reopening of the fishery.

The proposal presented by the Azores establishes the limit of unloadings per vessel up to five tonnes per day, the prohibition of unloading of bigeye tuna weighing less than 10 kilograms and it also determines that the fishery period be reopened only from October 1.

For the Regional Director for Fisheries, Luís Costa, the reinforcement of the quotas that was formally announced "corresponds to a request made by the Region last May."

"These negotiations have culminated in the transfer of 250 tonnes to Portugal, which will enable our tuna shipowners to catch bigeye tuna in the course of this season," explained the government official.

However, despite this transfer, "the current quota for bigeye tuna is shared by the Azores, Madeira and Mainland Portugal, which has clearly proved to be insufficient in recent years," explained the Regional Director.

Hence, the Region will "continue its efforts with the National Government, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the European Union in order to increase the current quota set at 5,025 tonnes."

This year, it was only possible to catch 4,729 tonnes as the European Union had to make some adjustments in the quota due to overfishing in 2012.

Although the amount available may be considered below fishers' expectations, the reinforcement of the quota granted to the Region in the current fishing season for catches of bigeye tuna is an asset for the Azores," said the Regional Director.