SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo de Tenerife has opened this Monday the call for subsidies to improve the marketing of tuna outside the archipelago endowed with 400,000 euros.
The insular Councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Javier Parrilla, explains that “this aid, processed urgently, will go towards the purchase of containers for the transport of tuna, which will help them to reach their destination in optimal conditions sanitary ware, improving the quality and competitiveness of the product”.
He recalls that the island’s fishing sector depends, to a large extent, on the capture and export of tuna, “hence the need to strengthen the figure of the tuna traders on which the island’s fishing sector is based.”
In this sense, the island official stated in a note that “since the beginning of the mandate, the intention of this government team, chaired by Pedro Martín, has been to support the sector, alleviating production costs to cement business confidence and alleviate the uncertainty caused by the war situation in Europe”.
Specifically, it is about “generating trust, supporting production, and improving the productivity and quality of our products.”
Although Tenerife’s fishing fleet and resources are diverse, currently 72 percent of the kilos unloaded at the island’s first-sale points are tuna, followed by coastal benthic, small pelagic and shellfish. In addition, from an economic point of view, tunas account for 70 percent of the island’s fishing production.
Regarding exports, in 2021, of the total annual catches (3,933,254 kilos), 80.72 percent were sold outside the Canary Islands (3,175,132 kilos), mostly on the Peninsula, Italy and France.
The Cabildo details that those people with registered office on the island, who have authorization for the first sale of fishing products and who have facilities for the unloading, preparation, storage and packaging of tuna caught by boats with a base port, may request this aid. in the Canary Islands.
In the same way, it will be necessary for them to have processed the first sale procedure, which legalizes the fishery products landed in the Canary Islands, at a minimum of 150,000 kilos of tuna in the last quarter of 2021 and the first half of 2022.
Containers for the transport of tuna that have been purchased between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022 will be eligible. The deadline for submitting applications will be 20 business days from this Tuesday.
WORLD FISHING DAY
Javier Parrilla highlights that this Monday is the ‘World Fishing Day’, which aims to support the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly fishing.
Similarly, remember that the UN General Assembly declared 2022 as the ‘International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture’, a commemoration that aims to generate global momentum to empower these sectors and ensure a sustainable future for them.
Aware of this, the island corporation presented the Artisanal Fishing Agenda last February, a complete program of actions, in collaboration with institutions such as the University of La Laguna (ULL) or the Coastal Action Group (GAC), to continue promoting and consolidating this sector.
Thus, the Cabildo organized this Saturday, in collaboration with the Guía de Isora City Council, a conference to promote the consumption of kilometer zero fish products in the municipality.
This meeting, which was attended by the island official together with the mayoress of Guía de Isora, Josefa Mesa, is part of the cycle of conferences launched by the island corporation to promote the consumption of local fish products.
The conferences began on November 12 in Candelaria, and after passing through Guía de Isora, they will continue this Saturday in Buenavista del Norte (in Los Remedios square) and later in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (in the Nuestra Señora de África Market on December 3).
The meetings combine training workshops for boys and girls on the seabed and recycling, workshops for adults and children on the preparation of fish recipes and free tastings.
OTHER AID TO THE FISHERIES SECTOR
Last September, the Cabildo de Tenerife granted a subsidy of 140,000 euros to the ten fishermen’s associations on the island to help cover their current expenses.
In addition, it will allocate 258,360 euros to the promotion of artisanal fishery products, with the aim of energizing, consolidating and making visible the Pesca Artesanal collective brand, which differentiates fresh fishery products caught by sea professionals in the Canary Islands.
The Coastal Action Group (GAC Tenerife) will receive 100,000 euros for the start-up of the Tenerife Artisanal Fishing Interpretation Center, located in Punta del Hidalgo, and another 70,000 euros to cover its operating, promotion and revitalization costs.
Fishing activity in Tenerife has deep social and economic roots. It currently maintains 223 boats in operation in which 650 people work, although it also generates wealth indirectly in sectors such as fuel, dry docks, fishing gear, restaurants or tourism.
The Tenerife fleet is characterized by the medium size of its vessels, by the limited power of its engines and by crews made up, in most cases, of members of a family unit. The artisanal boats develop polyvalent capture strategies, all of them selective and sustainable, to take advantage of the diversity of the insular ecosystems.
