Council President Stands Beside Artisanal Fishing

Lola García shows her support for fishermen’s guilds against the new EU regulation affecting the islands’ artisanal fisheries

The President of the Fuerteventura Island Council, Lola García, has voiced her backing for the fishermen’s guilds of Fuerteventura in particular, and the Canary Islands in general, who have openly rejected the recent amendment to the European Union’s Fisheries Control Regulation. According to the guilds, these measures jeopardize the survival of artisanal and coastal fishing, which sustains many families across the archipelago.

The Regional Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds, together with provincial federations, has denounced Regulation (EU) 2023/2842, arguing that it imposes obligations that threaten the viability of the inshore and coastal fleet, which accounts for the bulk of the Canary fishing activity.

In a statement, the guilds highlighted several controversial provisions introduced by the amendment:

• A mandatory four‑hour advance notice before entering port for vessels that fish just minutes from the coast.
• The requirement to record catches from “kilogram zero,” creating legal uncertainty and increasing the risk of accidents, even endangering maritime safety.

“These measures demonstrate a total lack of understanding of the reality of our traditional and proximity‑based fishing sector,” the island president warned.

Consequently, García declared:

“From the Fuerteventura Island Council we stand, as always, on the side of the sector’s professionals and we call on the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to address these demands and defend the fishing sector before the European Commission, putting an end to this assault on the Canary Islands’ artisanal and coastal fisheries.”