Extraction fees set with small-scale fishermen

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SANTIAGO. - A satisfactory fee agreement has been reached by the Undersecretary of Fisheries and the diverse organizations of small-scale fishermen who had previously protested and marched against the capture fees.

This compromise has the provision that this March the Undersecretary of Fisheries will propose to the National Fishing Board an increase in the 2008 annual fee for anchovy sardine capture, only if deemed necessary by the results of a hydro-acoustic evaluation.

The proposal that will be put before the National Fishing Board has the objective of increasing the annual fee for the capture of anchovy sardines. It permits a legal modification of the total allowance for the small-scale fishing sector of Region VIIII of up to five hundred thousand tons for the present year.

Additionally, the proposal asks for an increase in the fraction reserved for research purposes, from 3 percent to 5 percent.