The National Federation of Provincial Associations of Retail Entrepreneurs of Fish and Frozen Products, FEDEPESCA, and the National Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, FNCP, have joined the Crisis Committee of the Spanish fishing sector, promoted by the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (CEPESCA), to monitor and report on the situation of the fishing activity of the Spanish fleets, fish markets and markets, and ensure the supply of fish products to the population during the period of confinement decreed as a result of the COVID crisis -19.
Likewise, the committee will ensure the safety of workers in the fishing sector who have expressed their willingness to continue fishing, as well as that of distributors and other marketing professionals who are still operating, for which it will pay special attention to the dissemination and Awareness among its members of all those regulations and protocols of action, both current and future, to face COVID-19 in the exercise of the activity, as well as its compliance and application, and to demand the appropriate protection measures for the workers of the fishing chain. The Committee understands that, as it is an essential sector, the public administration should guarantee the distribution of Epis for all operators in the sector.
Once the information was collected from the different fleets, brotherhoods, markets and retailers, it can be concluded that around 50% of the ships and crews, as well as practically the entire distribution sector, are still active. Casualties due to coronaviruses are practically negligible in both the high and low sea fleets. However, inshore and offshore crews, as well as fishing vessel owners still face difficulties of various kinds. In the national fishing ground, fishing organizations continue to demand masks and personal protective equipment to guarantee safety against the virus on boats and fish markets. Regarding deep sea fishing, to solve the problems that are generated to carry out the crew relays in third countries due to the confinement and the state of alarm decreed by their governments, Europêche has sent the European Commission a list of ports international companies in which EU fishing vessels usually unload and has asked it to take the necessary steps to facilitate these relays.
Although many of the vessels that fish in the national fishing ground were forced to stop in the first instance, especially in the Mediterranean and in the Gulf of Cádiz – between 50 and 70% of the fleet has not been going out to work since The state of alarm was decreed, as well as partially in the Cantabrian Northwest, in recent days there is a return to the sea of ??some of these ships that were stopped as they perceived greater tranquility regarding the risks of contagion and the finding that prices at first sale are stabilizing.
It has also happened that four purse seiners from Barbate have gone fishing in Moroccan waters for the first time this year, making good catches and selling at a good price. And in the Cantabrian Sea, as reported by the FNCP, except for the shellfish, most of the fleets remain active.
Regarding deep sea fishing, of the Gran Sol fleet, made up of about 70 units, 2,150 crew and 10,750 direct and indirect positions, 95% continue to fish, mainly hake, rooster and monkfish, selling the same in fish markets Spanish. With regard to the national freezer fleets that fish outside the EU waters, the vast majority continue to fish, except for the Basque pole-and-line fishermen who fish in Senegal and who have been forced to stop as their Senegalese crews are prohibited from traveling within their country.
Morale is still quite high among high-altitude and high-altitude crews, although concerned about the situation of their relatives on the ground. The ships try not to go to port to avoid contagions and, when they do, they unload with extraordinary security measures to avoid contact with other people. In inshore fleets, the feeling of insecurity is also being cushioned, thanks, in part, to private donations, such as the washable masks provided by a Murcian company.
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