The Councillor of the Sea, Marta Villaverde, has stated that she will “totally reject” the European Commission’s proposal to apply a 20% cut to sur hake catching potential for 2027, a species on which “thousands of families” in Galicia depend.
“We don’t understand a cut of that magnitude,” the head of Sea said this Friday, stressing that the population development of this species in recent years does not justify such a severe reduction.
Villaverde emphasizes that hake is the most relevant species for the Galician fleet and, for that reason, demands that this reduction not be materialized, nor that of other key species for the community, in the negotiation of the Total Allowable Catches (TAC) and quotas that the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries of the European Union will address on 14 and 15 December.
The Councillor calls for the definitive decision to fully incorporate the socioeconomic dimension of the fleet, as the European framework for mixed fisheries allows, and for the criterion applied in 2026 to set the hake TAC to be maintained. In addition, she requests that a specific technical debate on southern hake and its management plan be opened as soon as possible.
She insists that the analysis must not be limited “not only to the environmental dimension,” but must also integrate socioeconomic factors and their impact on territories that are strongly dependent on the sea, such as Galicia.
At the same time, Villaverde laments that the 35% cut proposed for gilthead bream in Iberian waters responds to the precautionary approach of scientific advice and affects catching volumes that are already very low, which, in her view, worsens the effect on the fleet.
The Consellería also continues to regard with concern the proposal to set a joint limit for Iberian sardine, a fishery considered essential for Galician purse seiners, due to the weight it has in its activity and in coastal employment.
On the other hand, Villaverde assesses positively that the Community document includes increases for species of interest to Galicia, such as monkfish, with a 22% rise, and horse mackerel, with a 6%. However, she warns that these increases “do not compensate” for the cuts proposed for hake and gilthead bream, which she describes as especially damaging.
Remember, in any case, that this is only an initial proposal and that there are still elements to be specified, such as the allocation of quotas between member states or the species pending scientific opinion, among which it mentions the Norway lobster, the hake, and the anchovy.
Galicia, present in the European negotiation
On the political level, the regional minister highlights that Galicia will represent the whole of the Spanish autonomous communities together with the Fisheries minister, Luis Planas, at the Council of Ministers for Fisheries in December, at which the quotas will be closed. At that meeting, she advances that the Galician Government will bring forward "technical, scientific and socioeconomic" arguments to defend the interests of the Galician fleet.
Villaverde reproaches that last year the minister "focused more on the Mediterranean," which, in her view, caused the Galician fleet to be penalized in the allocation. She trusts that "this year it will work a little more on the Atlantic side" and that the negotiation will take more account of the reality of the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.