The General Secretariat of Fisheries has published in the Official State Gazette the resolution bringing forward the start of the 2025 bluefin tuna campaign for Canary Island vessels to this Monday, January 20, which will have nine more days, compared to the previous campaign, to catch this tuna during its passage through the waters of the Canary Island fishing grounds.
The document establishes two periods of fishing for this species for the current year: from January 20 to May 30, and from June 4 to December 31.
Through the aforementioned resolution, the Ministry sets the catch limits by type of vessel and size, in order to optimize the fishing possibilities available throughout the campaign. In total, the 250 vessels based in the Canary Islands will be allowed to fish 537.69 tons, the same as last year, when a surplus of 84.49 tons was generated that was not spent.
Meanwhile, the Canary Islands Executive reiterated to the State the request to allow Canary Islands fishermen to transfer the surplus of the annual bluefin tuna catch quota to the following campaign, in application of the provisions of Regulation 2023/2053 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
For the 2025 bluefin tuna campaign, the resulting individual limit for each vessel is increased by 22.5% in order to guarantee maximum use of the quota during the first fishing period. In addition, throughout the second period, the unconsumed bluefin tuna quota may be used by all vessels without individual restrictions.
Likewise, the meeting also addressed the bigeye tuna fishery, which Canary Islands fishermen identify as "tuna". In this sense, the Ministry was informed of the well-known situation of under-consumption of the national quota since 2020, in contrast to the recurrent closures of the fishery for the Canary Islands artisanal fleet, due to its lack of quota.
