In Motril, 36% of the fleet will be affected by EU plans to reduce trawling in European waters.
The Commission’s Marine Action Plan for sustainable fishing, announced on 21 February, includes initiatives for a phasing out of bottom trawling in protected marine areas.
The measure aims to protect fish, shellfish, turtles and seabirds threatened by the use of mobile bottom trawling gear (trawls, dredges, longlines, traps) in areas that will cover up to 30 percent of European waters by 2030. The target is non-binding, however.
The Commission states that fishing using bottom trawling is one of the most widespread and damaging activities to the seabed and its associated habitats. Currently, 79 percent of the coastal seabed is considered to be physically disrupted, mainly caused by bottom trawling, and a quarter of the EU’s coastal area has probably lost its seabed habitats.
The Spanish Government recently accused Brussels of “demonising” trawling, arguing that trawling produces a sustainable yield and facilitates the recovery of fish stocks. The Spanish Minister for Fisheries, Luis Planas, defended the need to find a balance between environmental, economic and social factors for the next common Fisheries Policy.
Spain’s disagreements with Brussels over the ban of trawling are not new. In 2022, the government appealed to the European Court of Justice against a Commission regulation, already in force, which imposed the closure of 87 trawl-fishing grounds on the Atlantic coast.
The European Bottom Fisheries Alliance (EBFA) estimated that the ban would put 7,000 vessels at risk; i.e., 25 percent of the (fishing) volumes landed and 38 percent of the total income of the European fleet.”
In Spain, 10 percent of vessels use trawling. The sector, led by the employers’ association CEPESCA, has warned of the impact on the economy and employment that the Brussels ban would have.
According to EBFA, EU Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius appears to have “forgotten his mandate to maintain the profitability of the fleet and to maximise food production in the EU – as clearly stated in the CFP and founding treaties of the EU.”
“This Action Plan will only increase the (sea) food security gap,” said Chairman of the EBFA, Ivan Lopez van der Veen, who also points to increased “pressure on the environment of developing countries and their food systems, as more fish will be diverted to our markets to fill the gap left by a shrinking EU fleet.” In other words, EU citizens still want fish, so it will come from elsewhere, where such restrictions are not in place.
Which brings us to the Costa Tropical and the Motril fishing fleet. Of the 30 boats that make up the fishermen’s association, eleven of them are trawlers.
Large areas of our coast are already considered a Zona de Especial Conservación. They are: Los Acantilados de Maro-Cerro Gordo, Punta de La Mona, The Tesorrillo-Salobreña seabeds, The Acantilados y Fondos Marinos de Calahonda-Castell de Ferro. Furthermore, Torrenueva Costa is working towards including its seabed within this list.
However, most of the fishing grounds that the Motril fleet exploits are located in the Albuñol area, on the border with Almería, but they fear the repercussions that the new measures will follow hard on the heels of the reduction in days of work that the sector has been suffering for years. More restrictions will jeopardise the survival of the fish market, which depends mainly on trawlers.
(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)