The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has put a stop to the tuna fattening activities in the cages of the tuna farms located on the Canary Island of Lanzarote.
According to the Delegate of Popular Party (PP) for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Mr. Candido Reguera, this decision is the consequence of the fact that the authorization for the use of purse seining for catching live tuna was denied by the Ministry of Agriculture an Fisheries during the current campaign. Once caught, the live tunas are placed in the cages at the fattening fishing farms.
The Canaries PP delegate denounces “the lack of sensitivity on behalf of the Socialist Executive towards the fishermen from Lanzarote.†Mr. Reguera also said that “it is regrettable†that licenses for the use of purse seining were not granted. “These fishing operations were normalized during the years 2002 and 2003 to obtain an outlet to the islands’ fishing activitiesâ€.
The Spanish Central Government reasoning for banning the use of purseseining is that "this activity has hardly been exploited by local fishermen in the Canarian Archipelago", and furthermore, “the results obtained at the experimental campaigns were not good enough, which in the Government’s view is insufficient justification to authorize these types of operationsâ€.
Mr. Reguera considers that “even when it is too soon to observe the results and the viability of these bluefin tuna fattening farms, there is still a need to keep experimenting with this projectâ€. He said that this activity is not only complementary and perfectly compatible with traditional fishing arts, but could bring many benefits to the island.
â€Purseseining generates less catch, because the tuna is raised at the fattening farms after being capture and therefore protecting the resources; the ocean is not exhausted, higher prices could be obtained, the economy would be diversified and knowledge of Lanzarote fishermen would be shared for the benefit of allâ€, he added.