Government bans swordfish capture, offers €1.26 million compensation
Portugal’s government has imposed a 45-day ban on the capture of swordfish in Portuguese waters, while making available €1.26 million in funding to mitigate the effects of the measure, it was announced today.
In a statement, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food states that the money, to be made available through the European Union’s Mar 2030 programme, “aims to support vessel owners/ crew who are licensed for swordfish fishing.”
Applications must be submitted by August 28, via the website balcaofundosue.pt.
As the ministry explains, in recent years “the swordfish quota allocated to Portugal has been proving insufficient to (provide) the nation’s fleet with a fishing license, directed to this species, with individual quota.”
The government says that it has made an effort to keep the fleet active through different mechanisms, including exchanging quotas with Spain, but this year the species “whose quotas are assumed to be exchangeable with Spain for this purpose turn out to be insufficient for the quantities of swordfish that are needed for the vessels concerned to remain operational until the end of the year”.
Source: LUSA
