This morning, João Oliveira visited the port of Sesimbra, within the scope of the PCP Parliamentary Days in the Setúbal peninsula, where he was in contact with several fishermen who, after a night at sea, were unloading the fish for the fish market, where it will be auctioned this afternoon. In this port, mainly dedicated to the fishing of black scabbardfish, sardine, horse mackerel and royal corvina, most of the fishermen complained to João Oliveira about the selling price of the fish which, according to them, only guarantees them an income close to the national minimum wage. "We sell here for 70 cents per kilo of sardine and it is sold in the hypermarket for 7.5 euros. In the past, at the time of the escudo, to sell at 500 escudos, they had to buy at 350 escudos", lamented one of the fishermen. The fishermen attribute responsibilities to the policies implemented at a national level - which, for example, prevent them from fishing in protected natural areas -, but also of the European Union (EU), pointing out that the country imports 60% of the fish it consumes. "Fishing in Portugal is not being managed by people, because even if we have any decision, we go to Brussels to give the amen, then we come back here again and then it goes on the interpretation of each one", criticized Luís Cunhal, one of the fishermen that João Oliveira met. Delfim Muleta, a retired fisherman who today operates the forklifts that take the fish tubs to the fish market, criticizes the selling price, the quotas imposed by the EU and the fact that they are prevented from fishing sardine in the winter, which he said forces many to live on unemployment benefit during those months of "crossing the desert". "They don't let us fish. Unfortunately, that's the way it is. There are fewer and fewer fishermen: if we don't value those we have here and those from our land, this will one day have a very sad end. And this land lives from fishing, we need this a lot", he lamented. At the end of this visit, in statements to journalists, João Oliveira defended that the contacts with these fishermen show that "another political approach to fishing" is necessary, considering that the sector is today "objectively secondary and disregarded". "We are in a position to replace imports with national production, ensuring even respect and balance for concerns about the sustainability of the activity", he argued. To this end, the candidate defended that it is necessary to have "another type of consideration for the fishing activity", namely by guaranteeing "the fair income of fishermen", which he considered not to be compatible with the current free sale system. "It is necessary to introduce mechanisms that limit the marketing margins and that prevent this discrepancy between the value of the sale to the public and the value that is paid to the fishermen", he considered. On the other hand, João Oliveira also defended changes at the level of the EU architecture, stressing that Germany, despite having a "very small exclusive economic zone" - unlike Portugal, which has the third largest -, has "a decision-making capacity seven times higher in the common fisheries policy". "In other words, a country for which fishing is a practically irrelevant activity has seven times more decision-making capacity on the common fisheries policy than a country for which fishing has all this importance. Does this make sense? It doesn't", he criticized. In this sense, the candidate indicated that the CDU defends that the unanimity rule in the European Council be extended to areas that "call into question absolutely priority and essential issues for the life of the country, such as fishing". In particular, the CDU defends the refusal of the so-called "bridge clauses" that allow, in certain areas, to move away from the principle of unanimity and vote by qualified majority if certain requirements are met. "The demand for respect and deepening of this unanimity rule is what would allow us, in relation to the common fisheries policy, to have another capacity to assert what serves and what is necessary for our country", he said. Read Also: PCP begins parliamentary days in Setúbal with several initiatives (Portuguese version)