The shortfall in pelagics allowed to be caught in EU waters in 2007 following the December EU Fisheries Council meeting has to be compensated in third countries, the president of the Dutch dominated Pelagic Freezer trawler Association (PFA) Gerard van Balsfoort told World Fishing.
Overall, the result of the Council meeting was a “mixed bag”, but the sharp reductions in TACs for herring by 25% and blue whiting by 20%, despite stabilisation in the mackerel and horse mackerel quota, means that the total volume the PFA is allowed to catch with its 25 vessels in the EU was substantially down, said Mr van Balsfoort.
He explained that one option is to return to the South Pacific where one of its Dutch flagged trawlers, “Maartje Theadora”, has returned from an almost year long “reasonably successful” experimental trip outside the Chilean 200 mile zone targeting jack mackerel, a smaller variety of horse mackerel.
The main problem was the logistics of landing and servicing the vessel far from home, especially as the Chilean authorities do not allow EU fishing vessels to land for supplies and crew changes, let alone to discharge the catch, because of a dispute with the EU over the management of jack mackerel outside the 200 mile zone. Instead they had to operate from Peruvian ports.
Jack mackerel, within the Chilean economic zone, is exclusively fished by the Chileans who maintain that because the shoals outside the zone belong to the population inside the zone, no foreign trawlers should target them outside the zone either.
However, the EU disputes this and maintains that its vessels like “Maartje Theadora” and the Irish super trawler “Atlantic Dawn” are entitled to target jack mackerel outside the 200 mile zone.
“The PFA has not made up its mind about a return because we have to weigh up costs, market prices and suitability of vessels, while we have also established fisheries off Mauritania and hopefully soon in Morocco after the king has ratified a new treaty with the EU,” said Mr van Balsfoort.
