The President of the Canary Islands Government and socialist candidate for re-election, Ángel Víctor Torres, has held a meeting with the President of the Lanzarote Council, also a PSOE candidate for the same body, María Dolores Corujo, to explain the possible development of the island's aquaculture industry.
“This meeting seemed important to me because of the messages that are being given, generating alarm about a differential position that this Council and this Government group in particular has taken in a novel way; which is none other than the opposition to the development of aquaculture in Lanzarote”, Dolores Corujo said this Monday.
Torres and Corujo have intervened in the Islote de la Fermina, in Arrecife, in a working meeting to respond to the doubts that arise around the development of the Regional Aquaculture Planning Plan (PROAC). María Dolores Corujo once again certified that "there will be no fish farm installation in Lanzarote waters because this has been agreed by institutions, fishermen's associations, as well as by the island's tourist and sports associations; and because the Statute of Autonomy allows it".
“The legal thesis that the Cabildo of Lanzarote maintains is that both the fisheries law and the Statute of Autonomy transfer and recognize the Cabildos' powers in matters of aquaculture”, the island president clarified after the meeting. She also added that she has opened a new process of allegations to any concession of aquaculture exploitation under the PROAC in Lanzarote. “This process will now allow the legal services of the Autonomous Community - and also the Advisory Council if necessary - to clarify the position that this Cabildo of Lanzarote has mandated from the beginning”.
María Dolores Corujo thanked the presence and support of the President of the Canary Islands Government, Ángel Víctor Torres, who has adapted his agenda to respond to this issue “with absolute transparency before the agents and sectors involved”, the president nuanced.
The competence lies with the Cabildos
Ángel Víctor Torres recalled this Monday that the PROAC was approved in the previous term; and he has "detailed" in his intervention before the media how a company had requested a license for this activity in Lanzarote. And how, also, the Lanzarote Council understands that these powers have been in the hands of the island institution since 2018. “Now a public exhibition is opened so that all groups, including the company that has intervened - but also all groups and public administrations - do what they consider in the relevant allegations”.
Torres also added: “But I have to be absolutely clear: as President of the Canary Islands I respect and defend that in the case of aquaculture and the places where they have to be placed (the marine cages), we have to respect the decision of the Cabildos, and that is my clear statement. There are islands that are committed to doing them at sea, others on land (as is the case of Lanzarote). And we also believe that in this case there are other issues that are structuring within the scope of all the islands, but what we must do is respect the opinion of the conejera society and the administrations of Lanzarote”.
Torres also clarified that the Cabildo of Lanzarote transferred its request before any order from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.
The president referred to the plan for the organization of aquaculture on the island, approved in the previous legislature, and to the “legitimate” position of the Cabildo, which considers that the powers belong to them since 2018. Torres believes that it is necessary to wait to clarify the existing reports to "elucidate" the powers and "give total legal certainty" to this issue. However, he is in favor of the councils and municipalities deciding on this activity, and that the council of Lanzarote transferred its request before any order from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. In case there are still doubts, he said, the Advisory Council will be used.
Finally, they point out from the Cabildo that this meeting around the PROAC took place during a morning of work during which Torres and Corujo also spoke with the board of directors of the Lanzarote Chamber of Commerce and with businessmen from the tourism sector. And in addition, both went to learn about the development of the “Employment on wheels” project, with which women victims of gender violence receive training as bus drivers.
