After meeting with industry partners and in order to adopt stringent measures for the management of the red seabream quota, the Regional Secretariat for the Sea, Science and Technology has decided to implement a new method of dividing the red seabream quota allocated to each island as well as a new quarterly management model for this quota.
 
By approving the ordinance published today in the Official Journal, the Government of the Azores intends to achieve a balance in catches throughout the year, thus ensuring a better use of resources and better monitoring of catches, which will boost the income of fishers.
 
With the new allocation per island for the years 2017 and 2018, the quota allocation is set at eight tonnes for Corvo and Santa Maria, 13 tonnes for São Jorge and 18 tonnes for Flores.
 
In turn, 28 tonnes will be allocated to Pico, 50 tonnes to Graciosa, 78 tonnes to Faial, 124 tonnes to Terceira and 179 tonnes to São Miguel.
 
This allocation of 507 tonnes of quota to the Azores, agreed by industry partners, took into consideration the catch history of each island and the respective vessels in recent years as well as their contribution to the local economy in order to render it more fair, equitable and closer to fishing context of each island.
 
This diploma also established that the quota allocated to each vessel per year cannot exceed more than 2% of the annual catch possibility for 2017 and 2018.
 
The temporary transfer of a partial amount of the quota set for an island to other islands can be agreed between the Regional Government and the associations representing the Region's fishing fleet, considering the specific clearance of the catches of respective fleets
 
Furthermore, this ordinance also forbids the catch of red seabream in recreational fishing during the closed season period for professional fishing, per island, thus ensuring a greater control of this resource.