After hearing industry partners, the Regional Government has decided to increase the maximum limit of red seabream catches allowed per vessel to 3% of the overall quota allocated to the Azores for this species.
 
According to an order published today in the Official Gazette, which enters into force Tuesday, December 5, Azorean vessels will be able to catch until the end of the year up to a maximum limit of 16 tonnes of red seabream.
 
Until now, each regional fishing vessel had a catch limit of 2% of the total quota allocated for this species in the Azores.
 
The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology said this measure is aimed at the "full use" of available red seabream quotas for 2017, taking into consideration "the quota still available for the Region by the end of December."
 
Gui Menezes pointed out that Azorean fishers "will be able to increase the catch of red seabream by the end of the year," recalling that, at this time of the year, "this species reaches higher values on the first sale, mainly due to the Spanish market."
 
The Regional Secretary also highlighted the "rational management" of this quota carried out by the Azorean fishers, adding that it will allow them "to raise their income."
 
In 2018, each regional fishing vessel will continue to have a catch limit of 2% of the overall quota allocated to the Azores for this species.
 
For this year, the Azores had a stipulated quota of 507 tonnes of red seabream. It increased 34 tonnes due to the introduction of some amendments to this quota, as it was not fully used by Portugal in 2016, reaching 541 tonnes.
 
In the beginning of the year, the Azorean Government stipulated the division of the quota for each island for the years 2017 and 2018. It respects the history of each island and its vessels, to ensure a fair and equitable allocation of the regional quota.
 
Due to an agreement between the regional administration and industry partners, the quota set for each island of the archipelago was distributed by the vessels of each island in order to adopt stricter management measures.