LISBON, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Portugal pledged to defend fishermen's livelihoods on Friday, after a European Union (EU) report recommended a ban on sardine fishing in 2018.
An International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) study, commissioned by the EU, found sardine stocks severely dwindling. The report concluded that sardine fishing should be forbidden in Portugal and Spain throughout 2018, to allow stocks to recover.
In response, Portugal's Ministry for the Sea issued a statement recognizing that "sustainable and responsible management policies had to be followed and enforced."
It went on to say that adjustments to fishing quotas should "guarantee activity and income for fishermen while allowing stocks to recover."
According to the ICES report, sardine stocks in the Cantabrian Sea and Iberian Atlantic dropped from 106,000 tonnes in 2006 to 22,000 tonnes in 2016.
An earlier ICES report, conducted in 2016, suggested that sardines stocks in the Iberian Peninsula would only fully recover if there was no fishing for 15 years.
Portugal and Spain rejected the notion. The two countries share fishing quotas and agreed to limit their combined sardine capture to 17,000 tonnes in 2017.
Portugal takes two-thirds of the joint quota.
Officials from Portugal's Ministry for the Sea will now meet with Spanish and EU counterparts to discuss the report's findings.
