The Council of the European Union, during the last night, has finally concluded a compromise for fishing in the western Mediterranean which, by protecting fish resources, manages to guarantee the profitability of businesses.
The result was achieved following a long negotiation with the EU Commission, which saw Italy alongside France and Spain.
"The negotiation was very complex," says Minister Teresa Bellanova, "but we are very satisfied with the result."
In fact, the initial proposal of the European Commission envisaged a reduction in fishing effort of 15% in terms of days. "Our national plans already provided for 15% less," the Minister specifies, "but the coronavirus emergency has severely hit fishing, strongly linked to the on-trade sector, and the choice would have been unacceptable".
The agreement reached instead provides for a 7.5% reduction in the fishing effort common to the three Member States, plus some additional measures for each country.
"France and Spain have opted for additional areas to be closed to fishing by the summer," Bellanova explains, "but this option would have been impractical for us".
Italy has therefore signed a commitment to further reduce the fishing effort by 2.5%, thus reaching a 10% total reduction, without further obligations.
"In fact, the reduction will be lower," continued the Minister, "since a further reduction of 7% had already been achieved by our fleet with the previous management plans. The reduction will therefore be less than 3% in real terms"
"It is positive that no further management measures will be envisaged for the Italian sector," concludes Minister Bellanova, "such as the reduction of fishing areas or restrictive measures on gear, which would have burdened our fishermen with new expenses for replacing the nets" .
The result achieved represents the first step towards a more careful management of the resource, which takes into account the needs of a multi specific fishery through the introduction of new management methodologies, which will allow to regulate not only the withdrawal, but also the supply and price on the market, for the benefit of businesses. ■