War is declared against those who attack fishermen

Organized fishermen have declared ‘war’ on those attacking their work, after claiming they were not being consulted on the latest changes to provisions of the Fisheries Actsanctioned in 2021.

And they reported it with changes Catching of some species such as cojinúa has been eliminatedhighly sought after in the local market.

“Preventing cojinú fishing, which has been practiced in Panama for more than 40 years using the seine modality, is an attack on Panama’s food security, from It is one of the sea products with the highest demand and consumption in the country.“, they assured.

They also reported that the latest reform of the Ministry of Agricultural Development (Mida), eliminated medium-scale lobster fishing.

What is strange to the fishermen is that just as they sat for a long time on the drafting of the Fisheries Act, in the same way it happened with the rulebook that it came from a consensus that It was even supported by the environmental foundation Mar Viva.

“(Recent changes) left a gap, because now trawlers will do whatever. If there were 280 before, with self-regulation there would be fewer,” said Ernesto Vargas, from the National Federation of Artisanal Fishermen.

Alejandro Vásquez, a Chiriquí fisherman, pointed this out It has never been proven that they did indiscriminate fishing and if there is, they close it themselves.

“As an organized fishing sector We will wage war against those who attack our work. There are many environmentalists who throw stones and hide their hands,” he said.

On the other hand, fishermen are worried that the lack of uniform laws will lead to The European Union gives a red card to economic activitywhich could be harmful to them.

At this point they added that it was the director of the Water Resources Authority of Panama (Arab), Yarelis Martínez, was dismissedhe tried to present evidence in Europe that the state complied with the measures to abolish the yellow list imposed on us by the European community, but he did not receive the support of the government and was not allowed to attend.

Added to the fact that Panama could not export seafood to the old continentcountries such as the United States, where most of Panama’s exports are directed, would impose additional restrictions if the sanction were tightened.

“If the Government denies us the support we can expect”expressed Gustavo Zúñiga, from the National Chamber of Fisheries.