The Playa Blanca fish market will be ready before the end of the year. The Fishermen's Association will have electrical power with sufficient power to operate the market machinery, as well as an exclusive water contract for the fishermen.
It will also have toilets, changing rooms, lockers and all the necessary conditions to obtain the Health certificate. These are some of the commitments acquired by the Cabildo officials during the meeting they held yesterday with the Playa Blanca Fishermen's Association. The meeting was attended by the president of the Cabildo, Inés Rojas, together with the Minister of Fisheries, Marcos Páez, and the Minister of Public Works, Sergio Machín.
Satisfaction
The sailors expressed their satisfaction at the end of the meeting, as they have been requesting help from the Administration for years to set up a fish market in the tourist town. After numerous attempts, it seems that, finally, both parties have reached an agreement. The president echoed all the requests of the fishermen, some of them of a more than urgent nature.
At the moment, the association survives in minimal conditions, without water, without electricity, and without toilets. The Minister of Public Works said that they have committed to immediately solve the problem of water and electricity, as well as the issue of bathrooms. He assured that the first steps were already taken yesterday with Inalsa and next week they will speak with Unelco.
Electricity to make ice
Currently, in the association there is not enough electricity power for the installation they need. The Minister of Fisheries, Marcos Páez, reported that "Unelco has made a new transformer near the Association, and we are going to talk to the electricity company so that the electricity arrives once and for all".
Right now in the fishermen's facilities you can't make ice or give cold to anything because there is not enough power to start the machines.
He assured that the bathrooms will begin to be built on Monday, as well as the changing rooms, to comply with the first sale decree. In addition, some compressors that are already obsolete will be removed.
More fuel
When the association was created, the needs were much smaller than at present. But the town has grown a lot in the tourism and fishing sector, and currently Playa Blanca needs larger fuel tanks.
In this sense, the Cabildo committed to talk to the company Repsol, which was scheduled to come to Lanzarote on November 8. Finally, the visit has been postponed until November 14, but Minister Marcos Páez confirmed that the businessmen will visit the fishermen's facilities, not only in Playa Blanca, but also in Puerto del Carmen and La Santa. In this regard, he confirmed that "Repsol is interested in installing a new dispenser there with an approximate capacity of 150,000 liters".
Exclusive water contract
Another of the issues that were addressed during the meeting was the issue of water. Until now they had not had problems, but there has already been some water mismatch from some branches. In addition, the Minister pointed out, "it seems that Puertos also hooked up the water that the association itself had." In this regard, Marcos Páez assured that the procedures are already underway for the association to have an exclusive water contract for the fishermen to control and pay for themselves. "That will be settled in a few days," he stressed.
Greater surveillance with illegal fishing
The Cabildo officials also listened to the complaints of the fishermen regarding illegal fishing. Indeed, there are many complaints that reveal the existence of fishermen who continue to use traps in the Bocaina Strait.
This is the area that separates the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, where this type of fishing has been prohibited since 1986. The Minister of Fisheries pledged to increase control and surveillance in that area in order to avoid these serious violations of the law. "From the Cabildo we are going to make the surveillance act, act accordingly, and that whoever has to pay, pays it.
But we cannot turn a deaf ear to the demand of some citizens, even if some are in favor and others against," he said. "If something is prohibited, it is prohibited for everyone. It cannot be that a few take advantage and many others protest. Those who protest are right and we must give it to them," he admitted.
Own dock
The fishermen requested yesterday the mediation of the Cabildo before the Ports area of the Ministry so that the fishing dock is free of all non-fishing actions. Minister Marcos Páez affirmed that he has already made a management with "Puertos" and assured that "there is no type of problem for them to be awarded a dock". They will only need a list that the association has to provide them, in which it is specified how many professional sailors it has.