MADRID, 17 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the Sustainable Fishing and Fisheries Research bill, whose main objectives are to strengthen the conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources, betting on a more efficient and flexible use of fishing quotas.

In addition, the new fishing regulations aim to ensure that fishing activity contributes to job creation, wealth generation and social cohesion in coastal areas in Spain, as well as strengthening the link between science and political action in this area.

Specifically, the approval of this new regulation is part of the programmatic commitment that the Government acquired and that is based on updating the State Maritime Fishing Law, enacted in 2001, to adapt it to the current situation and reality of the sector, incorporating all the legislative developments at Community level and on the governance of the oceans produced in the last 20 years.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has underlined that this is the "most important bill of this legislature in fisheries matters" that comes to modify the legal regime that was in force since 2001 and that had to be updated to be a "regulation that had already become outdated".

Planas pointed out in the press conference after the Council of Ministers that this new regulation has two "great pillars" such as "sustainability from a triple perspective: environmental, social and economic", and "fisheries research" that will allow "providing to seas and oceans of better health".

A reform of fishing regulations that occurs in the context generated by the European Green Deal, and seeks to guarantee a balance between the necessary conservation of the marine environment and the development of a fishing activity that is profitable, attractive for business development and necessary generational change, and consolidate a modern and competitive sector.

The new law introduces the power to adopt measures to strengthen the conservation and sustainable use of fishing resources, such as limiting the volume of catches or regulating the fishing effort, the gear and gear used, the weight or size of the species, or the establishment of closed seasons, always hand in hand with the sector and with the best scientific information available.