Line of action:

Status:

Execution date:

General Objective:

Regulate bottom trawling fishing in certain fishing grounds on the coast of Catalonia, near Rosas, Palamós and Blanes.

Specific objectives:

1. Determine and regulate the fishing area to be regulated, close to the fishing areas of Rosas and Blanes.
2. To renew the Management Plan for fishing for the Palamós shrimp, Order AAA/923/2013.
3. Raise awareness of the measures adopted in the study areas.
4. Scientific follow-up.

The COFRAGEST project has resulted in a monitoring commission in each regulation area of the areas of Rosas, Palamós and Blanes. Important agreements have been formalised for the declaration, management and recognition of certain areas of fishing activity located in the waters of the fishing grounds of the fleets of the ports of Palamós, Rosas and Blanes.

It has contributed to the renewal of the Palamós Shrimp Management Plan, in force for the next five years, in accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and the Environment, APM/532/2018 of 25 May. To this end, meetings were held with the plan renewal commission, allowing for improved communication between the three ports and understanding between fishermen, scientists and the administration, and the debate on the future of fishing was encouraged.

A framework agreement has also been generated by the Territorial Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds of Girona on the declaration and management of certain fishing restriction areas, an agreement binding on all the guilds within the territorial scope of the federation.

The application of the agreements reached made it possible to determine three areas of fishing interest that, due to their biological and ecosystem characteristics, have a significant value in terms of the reproduction and/or fingerling of certain species of high fishing interest. The 3 areas of study have been:

• No‐fishing area shared between the brotherhoods of Roses and Palamós, with Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) as the target species
• Fishing area with differentiated regulation applied to the trawl fleet of the Palamós brotherhood, with the pink prawn (Aristeus antennatus) as the target species
• No‐fishing area shared between the brotherhoods of Palamós and Blanes, with the process of habitat regeneration to be studied

In each of the agreements reached, clauses were established relating to the geographical delimitation of the areas of fishing interest, their limitation of access and the modalities affected, as well as scientific monitoring, disciplinary regime and validity, to achieve an increase in the total biomass of the community in the no-fishing zone and an increase in the average sizes of commercial species.

In addition, various dissemination, awareness-raising and knowledge transfer actions were carried out, such as the day to present the results of the project, which took place on 20 October 2018 at the Directorate General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Generalitat de Catalunya.