One of the many voices that have been raised to complain about the proposal of the European Union to make a drastic cut to fishing in the Mediterranean Sea has been Joan Simonet Pons, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment of the Balearic Islands. In a letter sent to Costas Kadis, the new EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, he points out that if the measure is approved it would lead to the “ruin” of the fishing sector. What’s more, it would create shortages of fresh fish on the islands. “The elimination of bottom trawling in the Mediterranean (the real hidden objective of Regulation 2019/1022) is an old obsessive claim of some environmental organizations,” criticizes in the text Simonet Pons. And he adds; “But, in the western Mediterranean, without trawling there is no fishing sector and no fish on the plate”.
In the text, Simonet Pons salutes Costas Kadis, former Minister of Agriculture and Environment of Cyprus, for his recent appointment to succeed Lithuanian Virginijus Sinkevičius in the EU, heavily criticized by the fishing industry. But it immediately focuses its letter on its “enormous concern” about the European Commission’s intention to limit fishing activity. “Such a proposal endangers the subsistence of professional fishing activity in, at least, the Balearic Islands, our small archipelago in the center of the western Mediterranean, and consequently, it will leave us without fresh local fish,” he warns. “In our islands, the only source of fresh local fish is the one caught by the local fleet,” he adds. The conceller also stresses that the consumption of local fish “is linked to a long gastronomic, heritage and even cultural tradition that goes far beyond the mere economic value of the catch.” On the other hand, Simonet Pons warns that already in recent years a drastic reduction was made in the annual fishing days: from 240 in 2019 to 130 in 2024. If the proposal is approved, it would be 29 days in 2025. “It is obvious that it is impossible for a family business to subsist if it only has activity 29 days a year, but it is also that the fish and shellfish caught by the trawler fleet accounts for 70% of what is landed and such a drastic reduction in landings will also lead to the ruin of all social structures (guilds) and economic (auctions, Producers’ Organizations) of the sector. It will be a cascading effect that will be felt in traditional markets, coastal restaurants and, of course, in households”. Simonet Pons also criticizes that the studies of the European Commission are based on very dubious predictions, and that there is no risk of extinction that merits drastic measures (he even points out that in the Balearic Islands there is a recovery of the marine fauna). The Balearic Minister concludes: “We all, fishermen first, want a sustainable fishing activity, respectful with the natural environment, that allows a dignified life to sailors and that is a source of healthy products, but we cannot allow ideology to be camouflaged as science to justify the opposite of reason”.
Balearic fishermen strike
On December 9 and 10, when the European Union discusses the proposal to drastically reduce the fishing days of the trawling fleet in the Mediterranean, Balearic fishermen will close their boats and will not go out to work. In addition, in these days there will be concentrations to claim in Palma. The measure has been announced by the Balearic Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds (FBCP), which has described the proposal as “immoral and indecent”. “The fishing we know in our ports would disappear,” lamented Carlos Ros, managing director of the FBCP. And he added that “this is not about whether there will be seafood at Christmas or not”, but, he warned, if the proposal goes ahead “there will be no more fishing in the Spanish Mediterranean”. In the same vein, Spanish, Italian and French fishermen of the Mediterranean qualify as a “real declaration of war” the proposal of the European Commission for a further cut in fishing days in this sea. The fishing sector has requested that 2025 be a transition year and that this year’s fishing possibilities be maintained, to give time to analyze the effects resulting from the application of the Management Plan during the five years it has been in force.
