On Thursday 10 October, the EU Council adopted by a qualified majority a regulation reducing by 54% the total allowable catch (TAC) for anchovy in Iberian Atlantic waters from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.
Four EU countries, including those directly concerned, Spain and Portugal, are said to have voted against the regulation (they explain this in a statement), which aims to modify certain TACs during the year, including that for anchovy.
The European Commission had proposed a definitive TAC for this species of 9,449 tonnes, representing a 54% reduction on the TAC for the previous fishing year. Spain has a quota of 4,519 tonnes and Portugal 4,930 tonnes. In addition, the regulation limits catches of the southern component of the stock to 969 tonnes from 1 October and bans quota swaps between Member States.
Spain and Portugal refused to accept such a drastic reduction in the anchovy TAC, and European fisheries ministers even discussed it at the last EU Council meeting (see EUROPE 13488/6).
Link to the regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/dti (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)