The Government will compensate 100% of the fishermen of the Azores for the drop in income due to the creation of marine protected areas that will cover 30% of the sea in the archipelago, the Minister of the Environment announced this Monday.
“First we will study how much this represents and we will compensate with the Environmental Fund,” said Maria da Graça Carvalho, about the impact of the Azores Government’s measure to protect 30% of the region’s sea.
The Minister of Environment and Energy also stated that the “mechanism will be the same” used for the Pedra do Valado marine protected area, in the Algarve, which resulted in global compensation to fishermen of 1.2 million euros.
Maria da Graça Carvalho guaranteed that the compensation to fishermen will be 100% assumed by the Government of the Republic through the Environmental Fund.
This week, the Regional Assembly of the Azores will debate and vote in the plenary session that begins on Tuesday, in Horta, the proposal of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) to create the Regional Network of Marine Protected Areas.
Before journalists, the president of the executive of the Azores (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM), José Manuel Bolieiro, called on the parties for the initiative to be approved unanimously.
“The Legislative Assembly has the responsibility, even if there is some editorial adjustment, which is always good in dialogue and consultation, to guarantee the unanimity of this vote,” he highlighted.
José Manuel Bolieiro praised the measure announced by the minister and left a “word of confidence to all shipowners and fishermen”remembering that the “creation of protected marine reserve areas with a limit of 30% is the sustainable development goal of the United Nations.”
“This commitment exists here within the framework of a study that will be carried out to define, never less and always more, the value of the risk of compensation for the declared and proven loss of income directly due to the protected marine environment. reserve areas to have multi-year co-financing from the Environmental Fund,” explained the regional leader.
José Manuel Bolieiro highlighted that the “Atlantic maritime dimension of Portugal is due to the Azores” and maintained that the region must “lead by example” in marine protection to guarantee “intergenerational solidarity.”
“The sustainability of fishing must guarantee protected marine reserve areas so that biomass and fish exist and persist for many years in the Azores Sea”he pointed out.
“We cannot postpone. We must lead by example. It is within the framework of this leadership, for example, that we want to define in plenary [do parlamento regional] This week these protected marine reserve areas reach 30% of the protected sea of the Azores,” he added.
The Government of the Azores, in collaboration with the Blue Ocean Foundation and the Waitt Foundation, announced its intention to transform 30% of the region’s seas (about 300 square kilometers) into marine protected areas, half of which under a “total protection” regime. ”.
Source: Observadora
