The European authorities refused to exceptionally increase the bigeye tuna quota allocated to Portugal and, consequently, to Madeira.
Thus, the Regional Government’s claim that tuna vessels could continue to fish this species of tuna, whose permitted catch limit has already been reached in the last few days, in less than three months of harvest, falls to the ground.
Last week, the regional governments of Madeira and the Azores had asked the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services (DGRM), the entity that manages these matters at national level, to extend the permitted catch limits, taking into account that Spain and France still had a large margin in their quotas. In addition, the request pointed to an exchange of albacore tuna for bigeye, since in that species, this year, catches have been much lower than usual.