The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Food Sovereignty of the Government of the Canary Islands has closed the resolution of the call for aid aimed at compensating, in the 2024 campaign, the additional costs incurred by operators of certain fishing and aquaculture products from the Archipelago, within the framework of the Operational Program for Spain of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (Poseican-Pesca Fempa).
The total amount to be distributed reaches 7,099,785.99 euros, which implies an increase of 15.58%, equivalent to 956,931.69 euros, compared to the previous call. This increase responds to the modification of the regulatory bases, which has allowed to reinforce the budget of ten sub-measures included in this program.
The objective of these subsidies is to compensate for the additional costs derived from the condition of the Canary Islands as an Outermost Region, so that companies and professionals in the sector can compete on equal terms with operators from the rest of the European Union, as the regional department recalls in an informative note.
More than a hundred applications processed
The call corresponding to 2024 registered 122 applications, which represent more than 21,000 tons of fishing and aquaculture products. Of that volume, the aid will cover the production of 20,568 tons that met the requirements set out in the bases, benefiting both the production phase and the marketing phase of aquaculture, industrial fishing, and artisanal fishing.
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Food Sovereignty, Narvay Quintero, has emphasized that these measures constitute a "fundamental instrument" to sustain the competitiveness of a sector considered strategic for the Canary Islands, by compensating for the additional costs borne by professionals due to the remoteness and territorial fragmentation typical of an outermost region.
In addition, he recalled that the last payment made in the previous legislature by the former government team corresponded to the 2020 campaign. Since then, the current department has been successively resolving the calls for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 of this plan.
The minister has highlighted the modification of the regulatory bases, which allows adjusting the compensation amounts to the situation and the real needs of the sector, while optimizing the use of available resources.
In this line, it has emphasized the reinforcement of support for artisanal fishing, whose budget increases by 20.3% and exceeds 1.6 million euros, aimed at an activity closely linked to the economic and social fabric of the islands, to their traditions and to the identity of the fishing municipalities.
Ten submeasures see their allocation increased
Specifically, this budgetary reinforcement affects ten submeasures linked to aquaculture and to artisanal and industrial fishing. In the case of artisanal fishing production (submeasure C1), the amount has risen by 124.2%, becoming the line that experiences the greatest boost after the review of the bases.
Likewise, the allocation for inter-island marketing of artisanal fishing from the Canary Islands (C2) increases by 7.3%; the one destined for fresh maritime marketing outside the Islands of artisanal fishing products (C3) rises by 9.3%; the marketing by frozen maritime means outside the Archipelago of artisanal fishing products (C4) increases by 6.2%; and the marketing by air outside the Canary Islands of artisanal fishing products (C5) grows by 9.5%.
In the aquaculture field, the funding directed to the production, breeding, and cultivation of aquaculture products (A1) rises by 11.6%; the one corresponding to maritime marketing outside the Canary Islands of aquaculture products (A2) increases by 9.3%; and the marketing by air outside the islands of aquaculture products (A3) rises by 9.5%.
Finally, the production of industrial fishing (B1) practically doubles its initial allocation, with an improvement of 96%. In turn, the line destined for the marketing of industrial fishing outside the Canary Islands (B2) also records an increase of 6.25% over the original amount.