The fishing sector in Catalonia, and in general in the Mediterranean countries of the European Union, has been breathing much easier since early Saturday morning. The EU Council for Fisheries and Agriculture had on the table a plan for 2026 that involved a 65% reduction in the number of days allowed to go to sea, which in the case of trawling would have left them with just nine. That's a full week in an entire year. Catalan fishermen's associations spoke of a death blow to the sector, and the impact on the market would have been more than significant, because in the last 15 years the consumption of fresh fish in the country has fallen by up to 40%, mainly due to price. Finally, and without needing to activate a blocking minority of Spain, France, and Italy (an available tool but with a very high political cost), The EU has decided to leave the situation as it was.There will be 143 working days for fishing and no new environmental restrictions will be applied during 2026.

The Catalan Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food, Òscar Ordeig, stated this Wednesday that shops and restaurants could face fish shortages during the Christmas holidays if the European Commission does not authorize additional working days for Catalan fishermen. European regulations allow fishermen a maximum number of fishing days per year. In the case of Catalonia, if this quota is not increased, fishermen will have to remain in port during the final weeks of 2025 because they will have already used up all their allotted days, meaning they will be unable to supply shops during the Christmas season, one of the peak periods for fish and seafood consumption. Ordeig explained that the European Commissioner for Fisheries, Costas Kadis, has committed to allowing fishermen to go out to sea more days this year, but the exact number has not yet been specified. In an interview on SER radio, Ordeig stated that there will "obviously" be a shortage of fish if Brussels ultimately does not allow fishermen to work more days. The regional minister reiterated his criticism of the European Union's fisheries policy, which, in his opinion, is pushing many professionals in the Catalan fishing sector to abandon the activity. One of the Catalan government's main complaints about the EU's fisheries policy is that it is "rigid" and, furthermore, equates fishing in the Atlantic, which is much more industrialized and uses very large vessels owned by major companies, with fishing in the Mediterranean—especially in Catalonia, Spain, and Italy—which is more traditional and where fishermen often form small groups. Clash with Brussels

The Catalan government, like the Spanish government and most regional governments, has opposed the latest proposal from the European Commission, which cut the fishing quota for trawlers in the Mediterranean by 79% and proposed that vessels only go to sea for 20 to 29 days per year. The Spanish government formed a common front with Italy and France to prevent the approval of this legislation, but Brussels temporarily backtracked and authorized that boats that had implemented a series of environmental and energy efficiency measures could fish for 130 days, as in 2024.

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Òscar Ordeig, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food, will travel to Brussels mid-month with Prime Minister Salvador Illa to try to defend the Catalan fishing sector against the threat of further cuts to authorized fishing days. The department he heads has a budget of 23 million for the sector and this year has allocated 2.3 million to subsidize changes to nets and doors for the Catalan fleet, which has thus been able to avoid the cuts that threatened to leave it with only 27 fishing days per year.

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It's Tuesday, it's eleven in the morning, and on the Portlligat breakwater, under a green awning, the fishermen Josep Lluís García Jaén (Córdoba, 1962) and Samuel Mir (Sant Cugat del Vallès, 1987) They are standing, cleaning the trammel nets, the small-scale fishing nets. They remove rocks and pieces of starfish that have become snagged; the nets must be clean so they can be used again. Sitting in a chair, helping them with the nets, is Benido Descamps Mallol (Cadaqués, 1936), a retired fisherman, wise, polite, with a brilliant memory, who tells Samu all the memories he has from the time he used to go out to sea. "I've been through all kinds of things in these areas of Cap de Creus when I was fishing," says Benido. As they clean the nets, they place them in black baskets. They'll have them ready for the afternoon, when they'll go to cast them into the sea, and the next day they'll collect them.

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From being a minority species at risk of disappearing to becoming a real problem that disrupts the daily life of fishing. This is the radical paradigm shift that Catalan fishermen are denouncing regarding the proliferation of bluefin tuna on the high seas in recent yearsFrom the Ebro Delta to Cape Creus, the boats that go out fishing every morning must deal with hundreds of large tuna that surround the boats, scare away the fish, and damage the nets. Purse seine fishermen suffer the most. After attracting the attention of the school of anchovies or sardines with their spotlight, they come face to face with these large predators of blue fish that enter the net, feed at will, and scare away all the catches. "Like a wolf scaring the sheep" is the most repeated phrase within the sector.

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The regulations that govern the practice of recreational fishing In inland waters off the coast of Barcelona, Tarragona, and Terres de l'Ebre, the restrictions will be tightened starting in September, once the new regulations announced by the Department of Agriculture this Monday are approved. The new regulations follow the model in force since 2024 on the Girona coast, which establishes daily quotas and minimum sizes for 44 species. It also includes a fishing ban for some specimens—in a dozen cases—for a period of time. The regulations will affect both recreational fishermen on boats and those who fish with rods from the coast or those who practice underwater fishing.

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The inauguration of Salvador Illa's new government last August placed Òscar Ordeig at the head of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food of the Generalitat (Catalan Government). Almost a year later, and therefore just weeks before celebrating his first anniversary in office, the minister is hosting ARA in the Parliament to take stock and also to discuss both long-term policies and the most recent events of recent months, such as the fires and Brussels' recent proposal to cut funding for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

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The Balfegó Group, specialized in the fishing and aquaculture of bluefin tuna from L'Ametlla de Mar, expects to close this fiscal year—the accounting year ends in April because it coincides with the fishing season, not the calendar year—with €107.6 million in revenue, 23% more than last year, when sales explained the growth for three reasons. First, the fact that the company sells more products with higher added value; second, the improvement in fishing quotas, which this year are expected to increase by another 20%.

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The Seafood Global congress of seafood products and companies, which will be held next month at the Fira de Barcelona, ​​​​hopes to repeat, at least, results similar to those of the last edition, when it brought together some 35,000 visitors and had an economic impact of €156 million, as explained this Thursday by Wynter Courmont, vice president of Diversified, the American company organizing the event.

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Albert Camus said that wars are too stupid to last, but they always end up lasting because stupidity insists and wins. Throughout history, humanity has seen conflicts of all types and in almost every corner of the planet. However, probably one of the most bizarre ones took place during the second half of the 20th century between Iceland and the United Kingdom. The reason for the dispute was cod. On three occasions (in 1958, in 1972 and in 1975), Reykjavik and London clashed over the rights to catch this fish in the waters of the North Atlantic. Only one death was recorded - that of an Icelandic engineer in 1973 - but there were countless violent skirmishes that left iconic images, such as a British navy ship intentionally crashing into an Icelandic navy ship.

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The European General Court (EGC) has once again agreed with the Sahrawis and has overturned the fishing agreement between the EU and Morocco, because Rabat cannot negotiate without their consent. The Polisario Front, which claims independence for the former Spanish colony, had challenged the agreement on the grounds that Morocco has no right to negotiate the exploitation of Sahrawi fishing, agricultural or mining resources. The decision directly affects Spain, because 93 of the 128 European vessels fishing in Sahrawi waters under the agreement are Spanish. Wednesday's ruling proves that neither Brussels nor Rabat can negotiate international agreements on the waters of Western Sahara without consulting it as the legitimate representative of the Saharawi people.

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The fishing sector is sending out a distress signal. The new European law which imposes a 40% reduction in trawl catches by 2025 has set Catalan and Valencian fleets on the warpath. Fishermen warn that the regulation endangers the continuity of one in two boats, according to calculations by the president of the Catalan federation of guilds, Antoni Abad. "We cannot keep boats that can only go out 120, 150 or 180 days a year, depending on the type of boat. We must to be allowed to work and we must all be allowed to do so equally", claims the fisherman, who also warns that if their demands are not met they will have to organise "more protest actions" because the entire fishing sector "is in danger".

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