Commercial fishermen in Ceuta caught just 82 tonnes of fish in the Strait of Gibraltar last year, according to the local fisherman’s guild.

According to the fishermen, annual catches have dropped by 72% since 2003, when boats in Ceuta landed 295 tonnes.

 

According to Spanish state news agency Efe the drop is evident again this year, with barely 55 tonnes of fish sold in Ceuta’s wholesale market in the year to date.

The species that underwent the steepest decline in captures over these years are small fish such as skipjack tuna, bullet tuna and sardine, the guild indicated.

Ceuta fishermen are forced to limit captures, since they cannot sell the goods in the Spanish mainland and must deal with an internal market overrun by products imported from Morocco.