The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology said the Government of the Azores intends to implement several initiatives to defend with the European Union the Region's interests in tuna fishing.
 
Fausto Brito e Abreu spoke Monday at the end of a meeting with the Secretary of State for Fisheries that took place in Lisbon, where they discussed various issues related to the fisheries sector in the Azores, namely "the short and long-term problems of tuna fishing." Furthermore, they also discussed the support and initiatives that Portugal can take with international organisations to defend the interests of regional fisheries.
 
The Regional Secretary for the Sea has requested the support of the National Government to defend the Region's position with the European Commission and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The aim is "to recognise that  tuna pole and line fishing practices in the Azores deserve different treatment from industrial tuna fishing; the latter uses purse seine fishing techniques and technologies for fish aggregation," including Fish Aggregation Devices (FAD).
 
"The National Government demonstrated its willingness to make representations to the European Commission in order to restrict the use of FAD along the African coast, which, from our standpoint, is limiting the access of tuna shoals to the Azores Sea," said the government official.
 
Brito e Abreu also emphasised the importance of "mobilising the support" of international environmental protection organisations that "contribute to the promotion of traditional tuna fishing techniques used in the Azores, differentiating it from purse seine fishing techniques.
 
In this context, the Regional Secretary revealed that he intends to meet with the European Commission and international NGOs in September to "promote the recognition of traditional fishing as environmental-friendly fishing practices and defend more restrictions to industrial tuna fishing."
 
The meeting with the Secretary of State for Fisheries was also attended by the presidents of the Azores Fisheries Federation and the Association of Tuna Producers and Similar Species (APASA). It also analysed the increase in the minimum size for red seabream as well as "the need to increase the red seabream quota or, at least, maintain the 507 tonnes allocated to the Region."
 
"Any cut in the red seabream quota allocated to the Azores would have a disproportionate economic impact," Brito e Abreu said, stressing that tuna fishing represents "over 20% of unloadings in the fish market."
 
With regard to "Beryx" fishing, the Regional Secretary for the Sea also defended that "the reopening of splendid alfonsino fishing (5% of total unloadings) in the short-term; only the alfonsino fishing is currently open.