The Spanish government admits that it is necessary to allow more red shrimp fishing at Christmas

BrusselsA message of reassurance from the Spanish government regarding the end-of-year fishing season. The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Planas, denied that the supply of fish and seafood for the Christmas holidays is at risk. Despite this message of reassurance, the Spanish official admitted that some products, "like the Mediterranean red shrimp," are of particular interest for the Christmas season and it is necessary to "ensure they can be caught." In this regard, Planas expressed optimism that Brussels will allow more days of fishing for red shrimp, which would especially benefit the Catalan fishing sector. In fact, the Spanish minister explained that they are already negotiating a solution with the European Commission. "There are three technical solutions we are studying, but I don't care which one is chosen; the important thing is that the fleet has more days available at the end of the year," he told the media.

It's worth recalling that, following the same line as Planas, the European Commissioner for Fisheries, Costas Kadis, already announced last week in an appearance before Congress that Brussels is studying "possible solutions" to allow fishermen to go to sea more days in 2025. Thus, Kadis assured that the executive branch would implement "the measures" requested by the Mediterranean fishing sector.

Currently, a large part of the Catalan fishing sector has already exhausted the 130 fishing days allowed by the European Commission. According to data provided by the Catalan National Federation of Fishermen's Associations, 80% of the trawler fleet is idle because it has either used up its quota days or has only a few working days left to reach the limit and is reserving them.

Optimism regarding the 2026 quotas

Beyond the end-of-year fishing season, Planas has also publicly asked the European Commission to increase the total number of days per year that Mediterranean fishermen can go to sea. Brussels is finalizing its analysis of the situation for all species and plans to present its proposed fishing quotas for next year in the coming days. These quotas will then be negotiated at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting on December 12. "Spain's objective is to secure as many fishing days as possible," the Spanish minister stated.