The Council of Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of the European Union, which ended on the morning of December 13th, in Brussels, after two days and one night of tough negotiations, had very positive results for the Portuguese fleet.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food, Maria do Céu Antunes, managed to increase the fishing quota for several species and maintain the quota for others, which the European Commission intended to reduce. More specifically, there has been an increase in the quota of 4 species:

1. Hake (+103%) - Portuguese share increases from 2,286 tons (2022) to 4,645 tons (2023).
2. Monkfish (+ 12%) - Portuguese quota increases from 615 tons (2022) to 689 tons (2023).
3. Areeiro (+ 33%) - Portuguese quota increases from 72 tons (2022) to 96 tons (2023).
4. Horse mackerel (+15%) - Portuguese share increases from 101,761 tons (2022) to 117,126 tons (2023).

In addition to these increases, Portugal also managed to confirm the maintenance of the quota of 407 tonnes of sole (the Commission's proposal was a reduction of 11%), as well as the curved streak (whose reduction was of 27%, and which, until the last moment negotiation, it was defended the maintenance of the quota in order to continue the collection of data to evaluate the resource).

Also noteworthy is the maintenance of the quota of 600 tonnes of sea bream, destined for the Azorean fleet, which the Commission wanted to reduce by 20%.

For more information, consult the table with the quotas established in this Council of Ministers of the Union for 2023 and the comparison with those established for 2022.