European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, Joe Borg yesterday began a three-day visit to Spain. His first engagement was to address the 14th High Level Conference of the Alliance of Maritime Regional Interests in Europe (AMRIE), which is being held in Gijon.

Dr Borg outlined the approach adopted by the Commission in its Green Paper on a European Maritime Policy, due to be published next Wednesday. Commissioner Borg then went to Barcelona, where he met with the Catalonian authorities before meeting with representatives of the fishing industry from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.

Today Dr. Borg will travel to Murcia where he will have meetings with industry representatives from Murcia and Valencia before travelling to Almeria where he will meet with local stakeholders. Topics to be discussed during the various meetings will include the proposed Mediterranean regulation, the economic difficulties of the fleets, the proposed European Fisheries Fund on which Council failed to reach agreement recently, tuna fisheries and the fisheries agreement with Morocco.

Tomorrow, the Spanish Fisheries Minister Elena Espinosa Mangana will join the Commissioner on a tour of the Maritime Reserve at Cabo de Gata. Later, their discussions will cover issues of concern to the Spanish fishing industry – those raised during the Commissioner’s visit as well as others such as the anchovy fishery in the Bay of Biscay and long-distance fisheries. Throughout his meetings with the sector, Commissioner Borg will encourage stakeholders to take part in the setting up of the Mediterranean Regional Advisory Council (RAC). RACs enable stakeholders to participate in the management of the fisheries of interest to them.