Forget the doom-laden warnings from ‘experts in Brussels’, fishermen are not only going to continue reeling in Portuguese sardines, their catch ‘quota’ has just increased by a whopping 4,760 tons.
In practical terms, this amounts to another 70% on top of 2017’s allowance of 6800-tons.
The ‘good news’ has been published in State newspaper Diário da República after the Minister of the Sea said it was “unthinkable” that Portugal would ever implement any kind of long-term ban on the country’s signature fish (click here).
But, says RTP, fishermen still maintain they should be allowed to catch more.
What seems likely is that 2017’s increased quota will not be repeated next year.
The country will be presented with next year’s quotas in October, and if the last few years are anything to go by, the perennial sardine wrangle will start all over again.
