Speech delivered by the Regional Secretary for the Sea and Fisheries - Communication

Secretaria Regional do Mar e das Pescas

Full text of the speech delivered today by the Regional Secretary for the Sea and Fisheries, Manuel São João, in Horta, during the discussion of the Plan and Budget for 2023:

"The proposal presented for 2023 includes a financial envelope of 34 million Euros, a realistic figure to respond to the fisheries sector and in the field of maritime policies considering the organisational changes that occurred in the Regional Government of the Azores.

Today's challenges for the entire fishing industry are different and increasingly complex, reaffirming the guidelines set out when the XIII Government took office, namely to pursue a consolidated and joint strategy, not only for the present but also with a view to creating solid foundations for the future.

The significant gains that the sector has registered cannot and must not be forgotten, not even to fuel the socialist argument that this Government has no strategy for fisheries.

The policies defined in conjunction with the representatives of the sector have resulted in the better promotion of our fish and the increase in income while safeguarding resources. Ask the fishers, after all, who had no strategy.

The most significant budget increase for the 2023 plan concerns the Control, Inspection and Management area, due to the Azores Sea Cluster, corresponding to an allocation of 15 million Euros, with the planned start-up of Martec Technopole and the new research vessel, under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. This is our commitment: building a modern and essential structure and platform for research in the Azores.

Regarding the Fisheries Support Infrastructures project, with an allocation of about five million Euros, the support from previous years is maintained, including the investment programme contract with Lotaçor for the refurbishment and upgrading of the Madalena Cold Storage Unit.

For 2023, the following interventions are planned: purchase of a crane for the Poças Port, improvement and operation of the Ponta Delgada fishing port, Flores Island. The construction of an equipment shelter in Fajã de Santo Cristo, and the improvement of the access road and electrification of the Topo port, São Jorge Island. There is also a project for the Entre Montes breakwater, Faial Island.

In 2023, it is also intended to ensure, through the Regional Inspectorate of Fisheries, the acquisition and installation of 150 continuous monitoring equipment - MONICAP for vessels in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, licensed for longline fishing gear, an investment of about 650 thousand Euros.

In turn, the Regional Government intends to formalise the certification of tuna pole-and-line fishery practices in the Region with the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) blue seal. The ongoing process will enable the opening of new markets, increasingly demanding and, thus, add value to the tuna fishing products, promoting their positive discrimination.

About two million Euros will be invested in the fleet and human resources. In regard to the support for the scrapping of gear and vessels, there is an increase of 270 thousand Euros, which can be extended to the support scheme for the permanent cessation of the fishing activity. As for the Mar 2020 support and technical support schemes, the allocation for 2023 is at 2.8 million Euros.

As announced by the President of the Government, the creation of a line of credit to support the maintenance and repair costs of vessels and equipment of the local and regional coastal fleet is being prepared. We have already made approached credit institutions for this purpose. This, as in so many other processes, will be done in conjunction with the Azores Fishing Federation.

In 2023, the Azores Maritime School will face countless challenges and will have to excel in innovation, differentiation and quality of the courses taught, improving its training offer, focusing on robotics and sea-related communications with the aim of providing this School with innovative technologies. As I recently said, it is up to us to continue the work done by all those who have worked in this school, proving that with the XIII Regional Government of the Azores, people serve the institutions, but they will never be used by them.

Por sua vez, para o projeto monitorização, promoção, fiscalização e ação ambiental marinha, serão canalizados cerca de cinco milhões e seiscentos mil euros.

With the aim of filling gaps in the characteristics of the maritime space, there is a process underway through a cooperation contract amounting to more than two million Euros with the Hydrographic Institute - bathymetry of the coast of all islands as well as the hydrodynamic study of oceanographic conditions on the north coast of São Jorge, placement of hydrographic buoys and data collection.

As for the Azores Maritime Spatial Planning Situation Plan (PSOEMA), we are awaiting the order from the Minister of the Economy and the Sea entrusting the Regional Directorate for Maritime Policies with the completion of its preparation, and establishing the organisational structure and operating rules of the advisory committee that will support and monitor its development.

The recent declaration of unconstitutionality of the Maritime Law has encouraged us to move in that direction without abandoning the position taken by the Region.

The political commitment made by the XIII Government of the Azores to anticipate the implementation of Marine Protected Areas by 2023 has led to a participatory process involving a wide range of stakeholders and is not behind anyone's back, as some would have others believe.

We continue to defend the principles that we must not and cannot abandon and that cannot be addressed individually: environmental, social and economic sustainability, accountability and innovation. And I reiterate: we will remain committed to a meaningful dialogue because that is the only way we can coordinate and define the main guidelines of our governance. 
Never with our backs turned, but aware that we are united in a purpose and that we can do more and better for the benefit of the entire sector and, consequently, its professionals."