The Government has banned the unloading, by fishing vessels in regional ports, of fish "caught with bottom trawl nets or towed nets used for catching deep-sea species comprised in the Annexes 1 and 2 of the Council Regulation (EC) no.2347/2002 of December 16, 2002."

The decision, which comes into effect immediately, extends the ban already imposed in 2006 for the unloading of fish caught with bottom gillnets. This measure is justified by the need to safeguard the most vulnerable fish stocks, such as "demersal and deep-sea species," mainly those found at greater depths in the Azores Sea.

Fishing with bottom trawl nets and bottom gillnets can rapidly deplete the maritime environment and exhaust marine resources at greater depths, which are the most vulnerable to overfishing due to slow growth and delayed reproduction."

Indeed, this option has been supported by EU policy and has even justified the adoption of the Council Regulation (EC) no.1568/2005 of September 20, 2005. This document aims to protect deep-water coral reefs from the effects of fishing in certain areas of the Atlantic Ocean, banning the use of gillnets, entangling and trammel nets at depths exceeding 200 metres as well as of bottom trawl nets or towed nets in the Azores, Madeira and Canaries.

For the Azorean Government, the importance of assuring a better management of fishing resources in the geographic area of the Azores justifies the unloading, by fishing vessels in regional ports, of fish "caught with bottom trawl nets or towed nets used for catching deep-sea species comprised in the Annexes 1 and 2 of the Council Regulation (EC) no.2347/2002 of December 16, 2002. Hence, this measure extends the scope of protection already provided in Ordinance no.48/2006, which prohibits the unloading of fish caught with bottom gillnets.

This prohibition applies to all vessels, regardless their size and flag, "that catch, as main or secondary activity, living marine species for marketing purposes" even "if not used to make catches by their own means" or in the case of "transporting fishery products by transhipment from other vessels."

The same ordinance, published in the Official Journal today, also includes the vessels "transporting aboard fishery products that are subject to one or more of the following operations prior to packaging -filleting, slicing, skinning, mincing, freezing and processing."