The National Republican Guard (GNR) confiscated 55 kilograms of limpets (‘patella aspera’) last weekend, which were “illegally harvested during the closed season,” in the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo in the Azores.
In a statement released this Tuesday, the authorities reported that on Saturday, May 24th, a “semi-rigid vessel was detected approaching the coastline, unloading limpets to a diver in the water.”
“Upon being confronted by the patrol, the suspects fled, abandoning 47.10 kilograms of limpets on the beach, which were seized,” the GNR stated.
The following day, Sunday, two other individuals were approached while “engaged in the direct sale of fresh limpets in a public space,” and the officers seized “7.90 kilograms of the said mollusks.”
The two suspects, aged 29 and 44, were identified, and the GNR filed three administrative offense reports. Since the mollusks were alive and in good condition, they were returned to their natural habitat.
The authority noted that “maritime resources should be exploited in a way that ensures, in the long term, the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of fishing, following a precautionary approach based on available scientific data, while simultaneously ensuring fishermen’s incomes.”
