The president of the National Federation of Fishermen's Guilds (FNCP), Basilio Otero, has requested, in the podcast "Efeagro Punto de Encuentro", a state training plan to attract graduates to the fleet, as sailors or businessmen, and thus solve the problem of generational replacement in the sector.
Otero has highlighted the personnel problems among the main challenges of the fleet, in a conversational episode of the podcast "Efeagro Punto de Encuentro", in which he analyzes the current situation of fishing, with issues such as the new European Commission (EC), the anchovy quota or the concern about the advance of wind energy.
Originally from Burela (Lugo), Otero has presided over the FNCP since 2017, which represents some 200 guilds, 30,000 people, of whom 8,000 are owners of vessels; son of a fisherman, he has exposed the current difficulties of the ports to hire sailors and the lack of interest of young people to start in ship-owning companies.
"I am insisting (to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) on the imperative need to make a national training plan because the competencies are transferred to the autonomies and each one goes at a very different rate of speed, which we must unify", he added.
According to Otero, part of the "blame" for these problems of shortage of graduates lies with the Administration, but he has also admitted that part of it lies with the sector, because it has not been able to communicate that "the graduates of the ships have good payrolls, there are many with six figures at the end of the year" and that you can make a career at sea.
"A more flexible Common Fisheries Policy"
Otero has defended a profound reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), because the current one is "outdated in ten years" and, given climate change and instability in the fishing grounds and in the abundance of species, "European policies should be flexible".
In that sense, he has requested a CFP less "straitjacketed" and in which it is more flexible to make changes and sustainable over time.
The president of the FNCP has assured that fishing is experiencing a convulsive moment, after years of reduction of ships and has defended making a "more competitive" sector with "stronger and more profitable" vessels, because scrapping and sales to third countries continue, ships that could have a replacement.
The head of the FNCP has also addressed in the podcast the draft Law on fishing sanctions, the concern about the cut in anchovy quotas in the Gulf of Cádiz and the future of the Mediterranean plan, which has meant a sharp cut in the days at sea for fishermen.
The head of the guilds has expressed hope in the new team of the European Commission (EC), for which the Cypriot Costas Kadis has been proposed as European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans.
