The administrator of the Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (ARAP), Flor Torrijos, referred this Thursday to the complaint about alleged irregularities regarding fishing licenses, assuring that no new licenses have been issued during the current administration and that they proceeded to request the Comptroller General to carry out an audit.
“When we arrive at the ARAP all the fisheries are closed, that is to say that new fishing licenses cannot be issued for any fishery and that is why the Authority guarantees the limit established by law of the fisheries because it is true that there is a great pressure on fishing in Panama, that is, there are more boats than the resource can withstand, and in this sense we strongly reject that the Authority at any time during this administration has issued new fishing licenses,” Torrijos told Telemetro Reporta.
He pointed out that during the last administration all the applications were submitted for the licenses to be issued, since in 2017 the longline fishery was opened until March 29, 2019.
“This administration inherited some of these licenses and what it has been doing is verifying whether the vessel complies with the size, because the fishing pressure has to do with the size of the vessel, the strength of the motor and the number of fishing nets. fishing on board the boat”, he indicated.
In that sense, he explained that they remain concerned due to inconsistencies in the size of the vessels, for which they requested the Panama Maritime Authority to carry out a review.
“It has even been warned, after an audit by the NOAA (National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to the processing plants, that they seemed a little odd to the photos of the boats and the data of the boats and when one saw them the The vessel had a different size of hold and another size of length, depth, beam, that is something that we have seen and we are working hand in hand with the competent authority that is the Panama Maritime Authority”, detailed the ARAP administrator.
On Wednesday morning, the National Council of the Fisheries Sector of Panama filed a criminal complaint against the administrator of ARAP, Flor Torrijos, for allegedly illegally granting fishing licenses to foreign vessels.
Marvin Correa, a member of said Council, mentioned that in accordance with Executive Decree No. 126 of September 12, 2017, modified by Executive Decree No. 11 of January 31, 2019, “by which the fishing of longline to inland service vessels in Panamanian waters”, the issuance of fishing licenses is prohibited.
