Portugal P18 islands Socio-economic Profile
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1 Portugal Islands : P2 1.1 Overview The area defined as Portugal Islands P2 covers the Azores Islands and Madeira. In 1996 there were 2,273 vessels in P2. The majority are located in the Azores (1,739 of which 445 are without a motor). There are a further 534 based in Madeira of which 289 were without a motor. Multi-purpose vessels predominate in both locations. Most are small with an average size of 6.9 GRt and a power of 26.2 kW. They operate exclusively in coastal waters. In addition to the multi-purpose vessels there are 6 medium sized seiners (43 GRT and 182KW) operating out of Madeira and targeting pelagics, mainly horse mackerel and mackerel. There are also 7 distant water vessels (average 469 GRT and 805 kW) believed to be mainly fishing for large pelagics (tuna and swordfish). They fish under third country agreements and land their catches outside of the islands. In the Azores in 1996 there were 17,215 tonnes of fish landed, of which about 54%, by weight, and 32%, by value, was tuna. Other species caught are horse mackerel, conger eel and white scabbard fish. Total landings in Madeira were 11,726 tonnes. The total value of the catches in the P2 area is estimated at 31,800,000 ECU. Again tuna landings predominate with 54% (by weight) and 52% by value. Other species of economic value were black scabbard fish, accounting for nearly 30% of the value. The pattern of processing in the autonomous regions differs significantly from Portugal Mainland, which is dominated by bacalhau drying. On the islands there are no bacalhau drying establishments, and the dominant activity is tuna canning utilising the local landings of tuna and imported raw material. There is also some processing and packing of fresh and frozen fish, along with some fresh fish merchants who undertake primary processing There are no inland fisheries 1.2 Coastal Fishing Employment The numbers of registered fishers is considered to be an accurate representation of the extent of activity since case study evidence suggests that fishers in the Azores and Madeira do not participate in other economic activities. The poor quality of data means that there were no disaggreagations into Full Time / Part Time, % self employment or degree of pluri- activity. Azores There are 3,897 registered fishers in the Azores in 1997 of which 2,311 were registered on the island of Sao Miguel, 367 on the Island of Terceira, 321 on the island on Pico and 86 on the island of Flores. Whilst the most important islands from the point of view of fisheries are São Miguel and Terceira, the most dependent communities are the smaller islands of Pico and Flores. Madeira Maderia has a total of 1,325 fishers, mostly located on the island of Madeira. The two NUTS 4 areas of Machico and Camara de Lobos account for 85% of the fishers. 1.3 Processing Employment There are a total of 1,416 people employed in processing, 1,021 of these in the Azores and 395 of these in Madeira. The largest centres for processing in the Azores are at Ponta Delgada on São Miguel and Horta on Faial where there are tuna canneries. Approximately 40 of the processing persons employed in the Azores are in the fish freezing sector. In Madeira there were 395 persons employed in processing, mainly in Funchal and Machico where the principal tuna canning activities are located. Only 52 of these persons employed were in the fish freezing sector and commercialisation sectors. 1.4 Vessel Construction and Repair Employment in Azores was of 48 people in vessel construction and repair, 31 in Ponta Delgada on S.Miguel and 17 in Pico. Boatyards are relatively small and rely extensively on the fishery sector for their income. 1.5 Marine Aquaculture Employment Employment in marine aquaculture is estimated to be less than 5 people in a developmental sea bream production unit located in Madeira. 1.6 Inland Aquaculture Employment There are two family run trout farms in Madeira. Total number of people employed is 6. |