European Parliament2014-2019

Committee on Fisheries

13.6.2017

MISSION REPORTfollowing the mission to Madeira, Portugal from 22 to 25 May 2017

Committee on Fisheries

Members of the mission:

Jarosław WALESA, Vice-Chair (EPP) (Leader of the mission)Renata BRIANO, Vice-Chair (S&D)Ricardo SERRÃO SANTOS (S&D)Cláudia MONTEIRO DE AGUIAR (EPP)Marco AFFRONTE (Greens)Nicola CAPUTO (S&D)

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SUMMARY

The Members of the Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries who took part in the mission to the island of Madeira, Portugal:

Had meetings in Funchal with:• José Humberto de Sousa Vasconcelos, Regional Secretary of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Regional Government of Madeira,

• Luis Ferreira, Regional Director of Fisheries,

• José Tranquada Gomes, President of the Regional Parliament of Madeira,• Miguel Machado de Albuquerque, President of the Regional Government of Madeira.

Visited in Funchal the Auction fish market and black scabbardfish vessels Visited in Calheta the Maricultura da Calheta Centre Visited in Ribeira Brava the aquaculture exploration of Campanário (off shore) Visited in Porto Novo the enterprise Ilha-Peixe

Visited in Caniçal: • the Whale Museum • the Caniçal Seaport, location of the traditional tuna fishing fleets

Had a meeting in Caniçal with local stakeholders (companies, fisherman, aquaculture projects)

Visited in Câmara de Lobos the traditional fishing fleets:

The local authorities and stakeholders met were very welcoming and eager to exchange with the Members, who very much appreciated the excellent collaboration and organization of the programme undertaken with the support of MEP Ms Claudia Monteiro de Aguiar, native of Madeira.

The media coverage was impressive, as all media from Madeira and the national TV public station RTP, radio TSF and Lusa news agency mentioned the visit, with several reports before and during the mission.

The coverage was not only excellent at quantitative level (with approx. 15 articles and 5 TV reports broadcasted in Madeira RTP channel and in the national cable news channel RTP3) but also qualitatively, underlining the importance of the mission for the fisheries sector in Madeira.

Annexes:

1. Programme2. List of participants

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3. Press report from the Lisbon European Parliament Information Office (EPIO)Monday, 22 May 2017

20:00 - 22:30

Funchal

Welcome dinner reception with the Regional Secretary of Agriculture and

Fisheries of the Regional Government of Madeira, Mr. José Humberto de Sousa

Vasconcelos and the General Director for Fisheries, Mr. Luis Ferreira

Located in front of the Auction Funchal fish market, the most important of Madeira, this dinner reception enabled Mr Humberto de Sousa and Mr Ferreira to welcome Members and introduce them immediately to the local features of Fisheries management in Madeira and the situation of fisheries and fishermen on the Island.

Presentation by Mr de Sousa of the Auction Funchal fish market

View of theCommercial Harbour of Funchal

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Tuesday, 23 May 2017

10:00 - 11:15

Funchal Harbour

Visit of the Auction Funchal fish market and black scabbard fish

vessels

The Fisheries Committee delegation was received by Ms Elisabete Gouveia, Head of the ‘Lota do Funchal’ Auction Fish market and Mr Luis Ferreira, General Director for Fisheries.

After a presentation on the history and activity of the port, Members could follow the whole working process, from unloading the catches from the boats, to the weighing, freezing and conditioning of the fish (mainly black scabbard fish and tuna species).

The members witnessed the improvements recently made in the port facilities to help the fishermen unload their catches.

The director outlined the modern infrastructures in use, meeting the highest standards in terms of safety and hygiene. This visit allowed for a lively debate with the Port representatives and the fishermen and employees present at work.

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Lota do Funchal is the main port in Funchal where fishermen unload their catches and moor their vessels.

There is also an auction house where catches are sold to buyers.

***

In November 2016, the Port of Funchal was dredged because it had been affected by an abnormal silting

and deposit of sludge. The fishermen complained about the degraded conditions hindering them whereas

unloading their catches in the Lota do Funchal because the draft was too low. The Regional Government

responded by dredging a volume of 2.500 m3.

Black scabbard fishery

Scabbardfish (also know as cutlassfish) are active, fast-swimming predators that live on or close to the seabed at depths from 200 to 1700 m. Madeira and the Canary Islands are the only known spawning areas for this species in the Northeast Atlantic. Compared to other deep-water species the growth rate of black scabbardfish is relatively high.

Black scabbardfish are mainly taken in mixed trawl fisheries along with other deepwater species such as roundnose grenadier and blue ling. As the black scabbard fishery is part of mixed fisheries, the effort also impacts other commercial and non- commercial deep-water species. In Madeira, the black scabbard is caught with deep- water longline gears in which deep-water sharks are the main bycatch species. Fishing for black scabbardfish represents more than half of the catches. Stock abundance has been assessed as stable since 2002; ICES advised that some fisheries should not be allowed to expand until there is sufficient information about the sustainability of the fishery. In general, deep sea fish can only sustain very low rates of exploitation because of their very low productivity, high age at maturity and long living trend. The advice for this fishery in 2017 and 2018 is the same as for 2015-2016, an annual catch of no more than 5.894 tonnes each year.

In Madeira black scabbardfish is seen as a delicacy and has a high commercial value. In Madeira and Portugal, it is the most important deep-water fish exploited. The dish of “Espada com banana” (deep fried black scabbardfish with fried bananas on top) is considered a delicacy in Portugal.

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11:30 - 12:15

Funchal

Meeting with the President of the Regional Parliament of Madeira,

Mr. José Lino Tranquada Gomes

Members were received in the Regional Parliament by its President, Mr. José Lino Tranquada Gomes for a meeting/debate followed by a hearing and a press conference. The Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira was established on 25 April 1976. It is the representative body of the population of Madeira and exercises the legislative and supervisory power of governmental action. The Parliament is composed of 47 members with a four years’ mandate and elected through direct vote.

Mr Tranquada expressed his satisfaction with the EP Initiative Report on “the management of the fishing fleets in the Outermost regions” (2016/2016(INI)1) which takes account of the Outermost Regions’ specificities. He thanked for the EU support for Madeira and expressed 1 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A8-2017-0138+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

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his wish to be given more autonomy to develop fisheries policies.

During the press conference, the head of the EP delegation Mr Walesa, highlighted the importance to discuss with the local authorities to better understand their difficulties, being the main actor to implement regionalization within the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) framework. Mr Tranquada concluded the press conference by stating the need for Madeira to modernize its fishing fleet.

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Tuesday, 23 May 2017

12:30 - 14:45 Quinta

Vigia, Funchal

Reception and lunch at the Regional Government hosted by the

President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Mr. Miguel

Filipe Machado de Albuquerque

The Members were invited to a working lunch by Mr. Miguel Filipe Machado de Albuquerque, President of the Regional Government of Madeira.

The Regional Government consists of the President and the Regional Secretaries and is politically responsible to the Legislative Assembly; its President is appointed by the Representative of the Republic according to the election results (the last elections in 2015 were won by the Social Democratic Party).

Mr. Albuquerque spent time to discuss with Members on the importance of the fisheries sector to ensure the subsistence of coastal communities and the need to invest in fleets in order to enable young Maderian workforce to engage in this activity.

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Tuesday, 23 May 2017

15:30 - 16:30 Visit at the Maricultura da Calheta Centre (CMC), Calheta

Dr. Carlos Andrade, Head of the Marine Aquaculture division and Mr. Carlos Teles, Mayor of Calheta, welcomed the Members for a comprehensive visit of the centre. The National TV RTP also was here in order to spread its report directly on the evening news report.

The Calheta Mariculture Centre (CMC) is established by the Regional Directorate of Fisheries with the aim of supporting the development of marine aquaculture in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. Established in the 1990s, it is the most important research centre of that kind in Portugal and began its first pilot project in 1996 on sea bream in order to test the viability of aquaculture.

It currently has three main producing activities: macro algae cultures needed for larvae and complement food, which produce live food for the fish, and reproductory rooms to produce juvenile fish, later transferred to the offshore fish farming (seen in the following visit).

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CMC’s research projects are largely co-financed by EU funds (80%, mainly the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF)). Studies are carried out to evaluate new local species for aquaculture, and also related to feed production.

The CMC has held a number of EU level 3 training courses for aquaculture technicians and moreover, EU level 5 courses in areas of greater technical and scientific specialization all supported by European Social Fund.

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

17:00 - 18:00

Ribeira Brava

Visit to the aquaculture open-sea farm of Campanário

Mr. Nuno Sousa Pereira, Captain of the Funchal Harbour welcomed the Members at the Ribeira Brava harbour and drove them by boat to the aquaculture open-sea farm of Campanário, located approx. 1 km off the coast.

Dr Élvio Pontes, Responsible of the aquaculture production of Ribeira Brava and Dr. Ricardo Nascimento, Mayor of Ribeira Brava, conducted the visit to these offshore fish farmings. The fish is fed with the live food produced in the previously visited Calheta Mariculture Centre.

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Wednesday, 24 May 2017

10:30 - 11:15 Visit of the enterprise Ilha-Peixe (Santa Cruz)

Members were welcomed by the managers and employees of Ilha-Peixe, a fish processing company based in Santa Cruz and visited its modern fish processing plant.

Ilha-Peixe offers a wide range of fresh and frozen fishery and aquaculture products. The three most important species are black swordfish (Aphanopus carbo), bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) and gilt-head sea bream (Sparus aurata). The core business is the processing of black swordfish in fillets. Ilha-Peixe wants to improve the character of Madeira’s most characteristic fish, the black swordfish, by facilitating the trade to the regional, national and international market. They also produce common seabream (Pagrus pagrus) and the gilt-head (sea) bream in fish farms.

The director outlined the modern infrastructures in use which meets the highest standards in terms of safety and hygiene (HACCP Regulation for Fish and Fishery Products).

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10:30 - 11:15 Visit of the Whale Museum, (Caniçal – Machico)

The Members had the opportunity to visit the Whale Museum, mainly co financed by EU funds (EMFF and ERDF).

Opened to the public in 1989 in the fishing village of Caniçal, the museum shows the history of whale hunting in the seas of Madeira. The Whale Museum is located in Caniçal and bears witness to the entire history of whaling and the activities associated with it. It is one of the most innovative museums of its kind internationally. A new building opened in September 2011, and is equipped with a valuable ethnographic/museum collection, which retrieves utensils and past experiences. The museum is an accurate witness to the history of whaling in Madeira throughout the 20th century. This museum houses life-size models of whales and dolphins and 3D stereoscopic movies.

This visit gave a very instructive insight on two important issues: the protection of whales, for which Portugal is fully compliant with the international agreements on that matter, and the history of the whale fishermen’s community which were very important as whales became the key subsistence mean for the Maderian fishing community from the 1940s until the 1970s.

This museum project is also a key success story on an efficient use of the EU funds in order to help the fishing communities to shift their activities into tourism (from whaling hunting to now whale watching), and thus contributing to preserve their cultural heritage. The institution also promotes scientific research projects on cetaceans and marine life in the seas of Madeira, as well as the collection, preservation and study of the heritage and documentation on the history of whaling in Madeira.

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15:30 - 17:00 Visit to the Caniçal Seaport (traditional tuna fishing fleets)

(Caniçal)

The Members visited Caniçal Seaport to get to know the traditional tuna fishing fleets. Caniçal is now the principal cargo port in Madeira. Although fishing accounts for a small percentage of Madeira’s GDP, in towns such as Caniçal and Camara de Lobos (following visit) in the south of Madeira, the fishing fleets are still of significance.

The two towns are highly dependent on fishing, and highly specialised, for instance Caniçal in tuna fisheries. These fishing communities are in a vulnerable position, given the ageing of fishermen and the difficulties to recruit young people for this profession.

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17:00 - 18:30 Meeting with local stakeholders (companies, fishermen, aquaculture)

(Caniçal)

The Members had a lively and very instructive meeting with the local stakeholders. They had time to discuss the daily issues they are facing in their fishing activities. The representatives of the ship owners insisted on the bad state of the fleet, with for instance no funds to equip them with sonars (necessary to identify the fish and thus better respecting EU regulations when fishing). This bad state of the fleet is also impacting the working conditions of the fishermen as outlined by the trade unions’ representatives (i.e. boat without showers and water closet,...).

Members expressed their strong support and willingness to get additional EU support for the outermost regions and reiterated their support to protect traditional fishing, in the context of the increased regionalization of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Members also highlighted the need to foster the involvement of the private sector in order to help financing the investments in the fishing sector (like in Norway for instance where 100% guaranteed loans by the fishermen’s bank are possible).

Members stated the need for a renovation of the fleets with its implications on the safety on board and fuel energy consumption.

The Members concluded that thanks to this mission, the European Parliament now had a better understanding of the necessity for a fleet renewal in Madeira and in general in the outermost regions, but stressed that this request needs to be balanced with other environmental considerations.

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20:00 - 20:30 Visit to traditional fishing vessels

(Câmara de Lobos)

The mission ended with a final visit to the harbour of Câmara de Lobos to visit the traditional fishing vessels. They were welcomed by the Mayor, Mr. Pedro Coelho, who insisted in the importance of protecting the vulnerable traditional fishing community of his city, which is of vital importance to promote eco-tourism and cultural heritage throughout the island.

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European Parliament2014 - 2019

Committee on Fisheries

FINAL PROGRAMME

European Parliament Fisheries CommitteeMission to Madeira22 – 25 May 2017

Updated on 19/05/2017Monday 22 May: travel

Flight (TP617) from Brussels (11:55) to Lisbon (arrival: 13:40)Flight (TP1687) from Lisbon (15:20) to Funchal (Madeira) (arrival: 17:05)

Check-in at Hotel Pestana CR7 Av. Sá Carneiro / Praça do Mar, 9000-017, Funchal Madeira +351 291 140 480

19:45 Beginning of the delegation :Meeting in the hall of the hotel Pestana CR7 and transfer to the welcome dinner

20:00-22:30 Welcome dinner with the Regional Secretary of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Regional Government of Madeira, Mr. José Humberto de Sousa Vasconcelos, and the Regional Director of fisheries, Mr. Luis Ferreira Venue : Dinner at Design Center Nini Andrade SilvaEstrada da Pontinha / Forte de Nossa Senhora da Conceição, 9000-726 Funchal

Tuesday 23 May: work activities

09:45 Meeting in the hall of the hotel Pestana CR7

Transfer by bus to the Funchal fish market Funchal Harbour -Porto Do Funchal, Estrada da Pontinha sn

10:00-11:15

11:15

Visit of the Funchal fish market and black scabbardfish vessels

Transfer by bus to the Regional Parliament of MadeiraALRAM - Assembleia Legislativa da Região Autónoma da Madeira Avenida do Mar e das Comunidades Madeirenses, 9004-506 Funchal Madeira (/Rua dos Capelistas) +351 291 210 500 / +351 965 922 390

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11:30-12:15 Reception at the Regional Parliament of Madeira (Funchal) and Press conference

12:15 Transfer by bus to the Regional Government of MadeiraQuinta Vigia, Avenida do Infante, N.º 18, 9004-547 Funchal Madeira +351 291 214 660

12:30-14:45 Reception and Lunch hosted by the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Mr. Miguel Filipe Machado de Albuquerque

14:45 Transfert by bus to CalhetaCentro de Maricultura da Calheta (CMC)-Avenida D. Manuel I, 7 - 9370-135 Calheta

15:30-16:30 Visit to the Maricultura da Calheta Centre (Calheta)

16:30 Transfer by bus to Ribeira Brava Ribeira Brava Harbour-Cais da Ribeira Brava

17:00-18:00 Visit to the aquaculture exploration of Campanário (Ribeira Brava) Centro de Maricultura da Calheta (CMC) accessible by boat from Ribeira Brava Harbour

18:00-18:30 Transfer by bus back to Hotel Pestana CR7 in Funchal

Dinner (Funchal) (free)

Wednesday 24 May: work activities

09:45 Meeting in the hall of the hotel Pestana CR7Transfer by bus to Ilha-Peixe Porto Novo, Santa Cruz Caminho do Cais do Porto Novo, 9100 – 061 Santa Cruz

10:30-11:15 Visit to the enterprise Ilha-Peixe (Porto Novo, Santa Cruz)

11:15

11:30-12:30

12:30

Transfer by bus to the Whale Museum (Caniçal – Machico)

Visit of the Whale Museum (Caniçal – Machico)

Transfer by bus to Lunch in Machico Venue : Restaurant Maré Alta / Largo da Praça, 9200 Machico / +351 96 235 65 52

13:00-15:00 Lunch (Machico)

15:00 Transfer by bus to Caniçal SeaportPorto do Caniçal, Estrada da Pontinha - 9004-562 Funchal

15:30-17:00 Visit to the Caniçal Seaport in order to visit the traditionals tuna fishing fleets (Caniçal)

17:00-18:30 Meeting with local stakeholders | companies, fisherman, aquaculture projects

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Venue : Whale Museum / Museu da BaleiaRua Garcia Moniz, n.º 1, 9200-031 Caniçal / +351 291 961 858

18:30-19:15 Transfer by bus back to Hotel Pestana CR7 in Funchal

19:45 Meeting in the hall of the hotel Pestana CR7

Transfer by bus to Baía de Câmara de LobosVenue : Rua Nova da Praia, Câmara de Lobos

20:00 Visit to traditional fishing fleets in the bay of Camara de Lobos Press conference

20:30 Closing Dinner with a visit to the traditional fishing fleets - (Baía de Câmara de Lobos)Venue : Restaurante O Lagar, Estr. João Gonçalves Zarco 478, 9300-167 Câmara de Lobos +351 291 941 865

23:00-23:30 End of the delegationTransfer by bus back to Hotel Pestana CR7 in Funchal

Thursday 25 May

Flight (TP1682) from Funchal (Madeira) (12:00) to Lisbon (arrival: 13:55)Flight (TP614) from Lisbon to Brussels (14:30) (arrival: 18:10)

*** END OF PROGRAMME ***

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COMMITTEE MISSION TO MADEIRA22-25 May 2017

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

MEMBERS (4)Jaroslaw WALESA (EPP) Vice-Chair, Head of delegation PLRenata BRIANO (S&D) ITNicola CAPUTO (S&D) ITMarco AFFRONTE (VERTS) IT

MEMBERS HORS-QUOTA (2)Cláudia MONTEIRO DE AGUIAR (PPE) PTRicardo SERRÃO SANTOS (S&D) PT

SECRETARIAT (2)Franck RICAUD (Responsible Administrator)Ana Paula SOARES (Assistant)

DG COMMUNICATION (2)Pedro VALENTE DA SILVA (Head of Unit, EP Information Office in Portugal)Teresa COUTINHO (Press Officer Office in Portugal)

POLITICAL ADVISORS (2)Markus WOLSCHLAGER (S&D)Eleni ZACHARAKI (GREENS)

INTERPRETERS (EN-IT-PT)Ana Sofia CASTANHEIRA (Team leader)James HOBBSNiceia PAPPAMIKAILMaria Adriana RANUCCIJohn SANDERSLaura ZACCARIA

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