The offshore patrol vessel ‘Arnomendi’ starts the fisheries surveillance campaign.

Today April 15^th, the offshore patrol vessel ‘Arnomendi’ has departed from her base, the Naval Station of La Graña (Ferrol, NW Spain), to join the fishing surveillance and inspection campaign called ‘Caladero Nacional’ (National Fishing Grounds). The operation is included in the General Fisheries Surveillance Plan of 2024 to be conducted in Cantabrian waters and Galician coast.

The participation of the ‘Arnomendi’ will last two weeks, with plans to return to her homeport in Ferrol at the end of this month.

During the deployment, the OPV will operate as a fisheries inspection vessel carrying out appropriate verification missions of national trawlers, in addition to those of other authorized vessels of member states. Her role also extends to the inspection of catches, review of fishing gear, monitoring of specific areas and fishing grounds, and the activities of the fishing fleet as a whole. For all this, she will count with the participation of an inspector of the ‘Secretaría General de Pesca’ as well as with the unmanned aerial system ‘M5D-Airfox’, to support the surveillance and control of the fishing activity.

The OPV is integrated into the Maritime Action Force, whose main mission is to contribute to the State Action at Sea through the protection of national maritime interests and the control of maritime spaces and national sovereignty, contributing to all the activities of the different public administrations with responsibilities in the maritime domain.