The huge quota reduction for the blue whiting fisheries to 590,000t in 2009 will have a serious impact on the pelagic freezer-trawler fleet in the EU, reports Pieter Tesch.
The optimum use of alternative fisheries off Northwest Africa and in the South Pacific is crucial, warned Pelagic Freezer trawler Association (PFA) president Gerard van Balsfoort.
Briefing World Fishing at the recent annual meeting of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) in London, Mr van Balsfoort said that within three years the blue whiting quota was reduced from two million tonnes to just over 0.5 million tonnes for 2009.
There was some good news for other North East Atlantic quotas such as the expected increase of the Atlanto herring quota, although the majority share in this TAC is for Norway, not the EU, said Mr van Balsfoort.
He added that the mackerel TAC will be increased considerably in 2009 and the horse mackerel quota was expected to remain the same, but another round of the North Sea and west of Ireland herring quota reductions would mean an overall loss of fishing opportunities in the North East Atlantic waters.
“As far as the PFA is concerned it could mean that we have to reduce our efforts in EU and NEAFC waters by as much as three vessels, for which we have to find alternative opportunities by adding them to our vessels off Mauritania and in the South Pacific,” said Mr van Balsfoort.
“In the freezer sector we cannot afford to lay up our vessels for the majority of the year as our Irish and Scottish colleagues do with refrigerated sea water vessels after they have fished up their quota. We can only catch what we can freeze per day, which is why we have to fish all year round, to supply our markets.
“The PFA has, for instance, turned the low-value blue whiting, once only suitable for fishmeal, into a fish suitable for human consumption with our freezing and further processing techniques and the whole EU pelagic fleet could earn more from better use of blue whiting,” said Mr van Balsfoort.
He explained that currently the world market for pelagic species was good, with better returns as the dollar had become stronger and the price of fuel also quoted in dollars had decreased faster than the currency had recovered, while the demand in the main markets had so far remained stable.
“We need therefore to plan now our effort for 2009 in all the waters we operate in, but the Commission has created some uncertainty and confusion in relation to our plans for Mauritania and the South Pacific,” said Mr van Balsfoort.
He explained that because the Commission had allowed Poland to increase its fishing capacity by 11,000 GT under the proviso that the extra Polish GTs would not be used in EU and NEAFC waters but off Morocco and Mauritania and in the South Pacific, there was now a question mark over the quota share in these waters for existing EU vessels.
In Mauritanian waters there was the possibility to increase the current quota for EU freezer trawlers by 240,000t per year if the Commission was willing to pay more to Mauritania under the fisheries treaty, but for the South Pacific the Commission had set access for EU vessels at 63,000 GT of which 56,000 GT belonged to the six PFA-vessels, said Mr van Balsfoort.
