The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology welcomed today the fact that the first sale of red seabream during December brought one million and 100 thousand Euros to Azorean farmers, that is, "twice the income registered in the same period of 2016."
 
Gui Menezes pointed out that, with around 55 tonnes of red seabream, the Region reached more than one million Euros in December, emphasising that "these figures had never been reached in just one month."
 
"The goals set at the beginning of the year for the management of the gred seabream quota for 2017 have been surpassed," said the Regional Secretary.
 
"With the new quota management we had proposed, we expected to reach this year 6.7 million Euros in the first sale of red seabream, i.e., 7.5% more compared to 2016. Right now, we have already reached about 7 million Euros, which represents 13% more than in 2016," said the government official. In this regard, he added that "this figure was only reached in 2010, when the Region's quota was more than twice the current quota."
 
The seabream quota allocated to the Azores this year was set at 507 tonnes of red seabream, the same amount as in 2016, because of the measures undertaken by the Regional Government and the adjustments to quota consumption in previous years. Now, the Azores have an additional 34 tonnes, making up 541 tonnes.
 
Gui Menezes defends that the results achieved with the new management model for red seabream quota are the result of the "close collaboration between the regional administration and industry partners, namely shipowners, fishers and traders."
 
"The income generated confirms the success of public policies that are being implemented, namely with regard to a strong investment in the promotion of fish products and the reduction of the fishing effort," said the government official.
 
The government official also mentioned that despite "the reduction of red seabream catches,, compared to 2016, the value of the fish unloaded increased 12% as a consequence of a price increase in about of 16%." According to him, the average price was set at €12.13/kg last year and now is set at €14.07/ kg.
 
The Regional Secretary states that, due to its commercial value, red seabream is "the most important demersal species in the Azores." In this context, he noted that a large part of the European red seabream quota was allocated to the Region. Therefore, it is necessary "to carry out an economically sustainable and smarter exploration" of this resource.