The General Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture has decided to close the Iberian sardine fishery for purse seiners, racú, and piobardeira boats in the Cantabrian and northwest starting at 00:00 hours on Saturday, August 1, once the exhaustion of the quota set for this campaign has been verified.
The sardine campaign closes "with good economic data," according to the Ministry of Fisheries, as the kilo of sardine has been paid at an average of 1.50 euros, 15 cents more than the average of the previous year and 50 cents above that in 2024, "which has contributed to improving the profitability and socioeconomic viability of fishing companies," it stated in a statement.
This year the fleet had an initial quota of 16,848 tons of Iberian sardine, 2.79% lower than that of the previous campaign, but was able to extend the activity for a few days thanks to 1,000 additional tons obtained through exchange with Portugal, after intense negotiations between the governments of both countries.
From that supplementary batch, the General Secretariat of Fisheries allocated 834 tons to the purse seiners, racú, and piobardeira boats of the Cantabrian and Northwest, 10 tons to the vessels that fish with the xeito method, and 156 tons to the purse seine fleet of the Gulf of Cádiz.
In total, the measure has affected almost 700 vessels from Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, and Andalusia, of which 624 belong to the modalities of purse seine, racú, piobardeira, and xeito in the Cantabrian and northwest fishing grounds.
On the other hand, although the closure of Olympic fishing for purse seiners, racú, and piobardeira in the Cantabrian and Northwest will take effect on August 1, vessels that have authorized temporary sardine transmissions from the purse seine of the Gulf of Cádiz will be able to continue fishing.
According to the analysis carried out to calculate the optimization surplus, based on consumption as of August 31, the General Secretariat of Fisheries will decide whether to activate the optimization mechanism for Iberian sardine. Thus, the authorized fleet that has consumed its quota and meets the established requirements will have the option to continue fishing until exhausting the common pool or until the end of directed fishing, as stipulated in the current resolutions for this fishing ground.