Eve Galimany: "There is no relationship between reducing fishing days and the sustainability of the species."

BrusselsThe European Commission wants to implement another drastic cut, of 65%, to the number of days Catalan fishermen can go to sea: it wants to limit them to just nine days in all of 2026. However, the Catalan government (Generalitat) and the Spanish government (Moncloa), which will advocate for increasing this number at the EU Fisheries Council meeting that begins this Thursday, are critical of the restrictions, arguing that the situation regarding trawling is better than Brussels indicates. Both the Catalan and Spanish governments are using scientific data from the Catalan Institute for Marine Governance Research (ICATMAR) as their argument. We interviewed one of its researchers, Eve Galimany.

Are the European Commission's scientific reports on which the fishing restrictions are based rigorous?

— This year's data is not being used to determine next year's quotas. All of this data comes from 2024. Therefore, it is outdated and does not take into account the compensatory measures implemented this year, such as the flying doors that do not damage the seabed or, among others, the increased mesh size. Furthermore, they want to achieve species conservation in a very short time, and biology doesn't work in ten days. Damaged seabeds take years to recover, and Brussels is being overly strict.

So, are the reports incorrect?

— The measures they are taking are not correct, according to their own reports. The conclusions of the documents themselves state that more work is needed and scientists should be given more time to better analyze the data. The scientific community is already saying there is a problem with this decision-making mechanism, and furthermore, there are no socioeconomic reports on how all these cuts might affect the sector.

Isn't Brussels concerned about safeguarding the jobs of fishermen?

— It has a very simple way of working, and this isn't possible in the Mediterranean. That's the feeling. They're used to managing the Atlantic, which is much simpler, and our sea has the complexity of having many very small boats with a huge number of commercial species. Trawling involves more than a hundred commercial species, and they only use five to decide on quotas. More data should be collected, and more mathematical models should be taken into account, allowing for a thorough discussion of this information. It can't be done hastily.

Are the restrictions on Catalan fishermen unfair?

— The Catalan fishing sector, which has historically done the most for sustainable fishing, is being penalized. For many years they have voluntarily implemented permanent closed areas, increased the size of their nets, and I know for a fact that some fishermen even use nets with a mesh size wider than the EU requires. You do things right, and on top of that, you get penalized.

Is the reduction of fish in the sea, and therefore of fishing days, influenced by climate change?

— The case of the Norway lobster is clear: it's affected by climate change, and the EU is including it in its studies. But it doesn't matter if you fish for it, because it's affected by the temperature and its population won't recover.

But if there are more fish, there's a greater danger of them disappearing, right?

— This is obvious. However, you can't base the work of hundreds of boats on a species affected by climate change. There are other species, like the white shrimp, that thrive in the face of climate change, and they don't take that into account.

What number of fishing days per year would you propose?

— There is no correlation between fewer fishing days and reduced species mortality. Much more efficient measures should be taken, such as increasing the mesh size.

Excuse my ignorance, but is there really no relationship between fishing days and the sustainability of species?

— Look, what you don't catch in a week or a month, you'll catch the following week or the next month, when you go fishing again. It's obvious that if you decimate the fishing fleet there will be more fish, but it's a measure that, of course, we don't want. It's been proven that more selective measures, such as mesh size, avoiding damage to the seabed, and establishing protected areas, are much more effective.

Does the European Commission listen when these arguments are presented?

— It's true that they receive us and you can explain everything you want to them, but afterwards they publish what they want.

Are you confident that the EU Fisheries Council negotiations this Thursday and Friday will result in an extension of fishing days?

— I have no idea, but what I see is that when Brussels publishes a report like this, it's difficult to redirect it afterward. I hope they allow compensatory measures and let us go out to sea more days; otherwise, we'll be left without fishermen. Sustainability involves not only biology, but also the economy and society. Fishermen's guilds are an ancient, traditional, and artisanal system that must be preserved. We can't be left without local commerce or fish on our tables, unless we choose to import everything from countries that have no regulations or regard for the environmental consequences.