Fishing while crusing
29 October 2009 | Sines
is fun. We trail a couple of lines most of the time underway and occassionally we have caught a maquerel or two to add FRESH fish to the menu.
Yesterday we got a most polite and kind information that we were not allowed to do so within Portuguese waters (12 miles offshore). The police came over in their RIB just as I was frantically trying to catch maquerel in the anchorage after discovering a school moving around the boat. They told me, that without a license one could get fined Euro 500 (!) for fishing. We soon agreed that the tiny maquerel wasn't worth that, and I stowed away the fishig gear. They also said that the license was simply to expensive to be of any interest for a crusing boat passing through Portuguese waters.
Given that in Sweden 'hobby' fishing is free in the Sea, I must admit that I couldn't imagine that was ot the cas everywhere... stupid maybe, but now I know better. In retrospect, we saw lots of small boats with people out fishing close to the shore in Galicia, but none of it here in Portugal, so....
One get to learn new things every day.