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ARCHIVED - Murcia without fish this Easter due to rising fuel prices
Diesel costs for Murcia fishermen have tripled since 2020
The rise in fuel prices as a result of the invasion of Ukraine has forced the Region’s fishermen to bring forward the trawling stoppage scheduled for November as the cost of diesel is making the fishing business completely unfeasible.
Murcia originally put a temporary ban on bottom trawling in inland waters between February and March, and the president of the fishermen of Águilas, Manuel Díaz, predicts that most of the Spanish fishing fleets will also end up moored in port, drastically reducing fish supplies in the coming weeks.
The price of diesel represents more than 40% of the operating costs of the fishing industry and since 2020, their fuel bill has tripled. The sector employs around 1,250 workers in the Region, but currently only the smaller vessels which consume less fuel are in operation, and even they are considering docking up.
Following the month and a half shutdown in February, “it is not now feasible to go out to fish”, according to Mr Díaz, and the fleets will remain moored in Murcia until May 4.
Manuel Díaz predicts that "in two weeks the entire fleet will stop and there will be no fish or shellfish for Easter in restaurants or fishmongers." In his opinion, only catches from countries like Morocco will reach the national markets, “which can continue fishing, because they have different conditions from ours. This is going to take a long time. It is worse than the pandemic. Then not a single ship stopped, people continued working, but now it is not viable”.
There are currently 22 trawlers in the Region: eight belong to Águilas, seven to Cartagena, six to Mazarrón and one to San Pedro del Pinatar. According to the organisation in Cartagena, ship-owners will receive aid from the local government while fishermen will be given an allowance of 50 euros per day for the duration of the shutdown.
The fleets of other autonomous communities are also considering stopping. The National Federation of Fishermen's Guilds (FNCP) and the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (Cepesca) have requested an urgent meeting with Luis Planas, Minister of Agriculture, to analyse options to alleviate the situation for ship-owners and fishermen.
Image: Archive
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