Members of the Maritime Detachment of Fuerteventura, belonging to the Provincial Maritime Service of Las Palmas, have seized during March 29 and 30 three fishing cages or traps, of large dimensions, without any identification, in the vicinity of the southeast coast of the island of Lanzarote, next to the front of the town of Puerto del Carmen in the area known as Bahía de Ávila.
The seized traps were set at a great depth, about 100 meters, and did not comply with different precepts contained in the legislation, such as the lack of mandatory buoyage, which must consist of a reflective red or orange buoy at the end of the surface with a minimum dimension of 20 centimeters in diameter, as well as having printed (on the buoys) the registration number of the vessel to which it belongs and the name of the vessel.
Likewise, the corresponding identification plate must be found on the body of the trap, as reported by the Civil Guard in a press release.
The Civil Guard has indicated that with regard to the control of trap fishing in the waters of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, it is "essential" that this type of fishing complies with the legal provisions in the legal texts, since it is a gear subject to license quotas, specific measures and depth limits in order to minimize its impact on the marine environment and the species exploited.
Location of the traps
As for the location of the traps, it occurred after the service focused on the coastal area in front of Puerto del Carmen and after observing the groups of buoys without complying with the legal requirements and using the vessel's hauler, the agents proceeded to hoist aboard the aforementioned traps that were distributed at a depth of between 80 and 100 meters, something that caught the attention of the acting officers, as well as the type of species trapped inside them and the abundance of the catches.
In addition, inside these traps the agents found several specimens of conger eel (Conger Conger) and as all the animals were alive, they were returned to the marine environment on the spot, while the seized traps were transferred and deposited in the Port of Corralejo, on the island of Fuerteventura.
Specifically, the catches found and returned to the sea were specimens of Canary Sea Crab (Cancer Bellianus), King Crab (Chanceon Affinis) and Deepwater Spider Crab (Paromola Cuvieri), species with very low commercial exploitation in the Canary Islands due to the erratic nature of their populations, which has been the subject of research, all of which are highly valued in the market and reaching a high market price in other parts of the world.
