The fixing of available fishing opportunities for deep-sea species is of great importance to Madeira as it involves the black scabbard fishery responsible for catching not only the target species but also by-catch of deep-sea sharks, namely the white shark, commonly known as “cat”, with great socio-economic relevance, namely in Câmara de Lobos.
In this sense, the Region is going to fight by the current fixation of the share of deepwater species for fishing.
The fishing opportunities for black-finned swordfish in the Madeira area determined by the EU have been decreasing in recent years, being in 2018 2,189 tonnes.
Contrary to usual practice, the quota for this biennium will not be proposed by the Council and will be delegated to Portugal as a single Member State holding the TAC in the area concerned.
The Region, which will be consulted in this process, will strive to establish the quota at the current level and will be responsible for demonstrating the elements on which it was based to ensure that the TAC proposal meets the established conditions, namely sustainability of the resource and application of the precautionary principle. That is, if necessary, the Region can show the work carried out by the Regional Government through the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Fisheries – Directorate of Research Services, in the field of research proving that the maintenance of quota is sustainable.
Another positive aspect to be highlighted is the maintenance of the exception – for longline swordfish fisheries – concerning the possibility of capturing deep-sea sharks incidentally, enabling the collection of scientific data on the landings of these species.
