August 9, 2013 — The European Commission (EC) reported that about 800 tonnes are to be reduced from the fishing quotas of the Spanish fleet in 2013 to compensate for overfishing in 2012. The cuts will specifically affect hake fishing.
This announcement responds to the annual performance of deductions that allows Brussels to control the damage caused to the stocks that were overfished in the previous year and ensure the sustainable exploitation of resources.
Spain was the Member State that overfished species the most last year: a total of 17.
The European Commission (EC) also provided fishing quota cuts for the fleets of Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, France, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the UK and Romania.
The resources exploited by the Spanish fleet that are most seriously affected by the measure are hake, with a cut of 475.87 tonnes, and black scabbardfish, with 115.05 tonnes less, according to the official list of quota deductions for 2013.
In addition, there are deductions for greater forkbeard (56.44 tonnes), saithe (27.70 tonnes), tusk (28.55 tonnes), haddock (21.87 tonnes), Norway lobster (25.15 tonnes), deep-sea sharks (11.79 tonnes) and blue marlin (10.28 tonnes).