There is no profit margin. Trawling remained this way in the province of Alicante after it became known that the cut in European Union (EU) fishing days would be 45 instead of the 15 originally calculated. A big blow for the industry, which welcomed the measure with anger While boats operated for 240 days five years ago, this year they will be able to operate only 125 days.. The Brotherhood warns that the measure will not only affect fleet employees, but that reductions in ground staff should also be considered as the volume of activity has fallen significantly.
The EU has been implementing an aggressive cut policy for trawling in the Western Mediterranean since 2020, based on sustainability criteria. With everything, This year the outage was more severeAccording to the notification the sector has just received from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. It was initially estimated that the reduction could be around 15 days, but eventually the boats will increase from 170 days last year to 125 days this year.
This was stated by Juan Mulet, secretary of the Alicante Provincial Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds, who emphasized that “there remains a 10% reserve that can be used depending on various conditions, that is, about 12 days.” the possibility of a new boat appearing. But still The slaughter is a real disgrace, leaving us completely helpless and deprived of any chance of survival.”.
The explanation emphasized by the industry spokesperson is quite simple. In his own words, he says, “no company can continue to operate 125 days a year even without help.” And he adds that the compensation goes only to the ship owners. “Workers consume unemployment while they are unemployed, and some have already exhausted it.. “It is completely impossible to survive this way,” he laments.
There are 120 ships dedicated to trawling in the province, and a total of approximately 600 workers work on these ships.. But Mulet warns that this year’s sharp cutback will also have consequences on the fraternity’s ground staff, which will likely need to be reduced due to the drop in business volume. “We don’t know the scope, each fraternity will have to get its own number,” he emphasizes.
José López, senior patron of the Brotherhood of Santa Pola, expresses it in similar terms, with 36 trawlers docked in its harbour. “The activity has now become unsustainable, because the compensation is not only insufficient, but also comes late and insufficiently. In fact, last year’s ones have not been paid yet, but there are those waiting for 2022.”
He agrees with Juan Mulet on the problem of unemployment days being consumed by seafarers. the need to reduce staff in the portAlthough the rate is not stated at the moment. However, he goes further and underlines that these switches also affect fishermen and transporters. In his own words, he says, “Fishing is a chain, and when any link is broken, the whole system suffers.”
Funds for scrapping and mobilization work
Fishing guilds are requesting permission from the Ministry to fund the scrapping of part of the fleet, a measure shared by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. As Juan Mulet, the provincial secretary of the sector, and José López, chief captain of Santa Pola, explained yesterday, this would be the best solution for the slow suffering that the sector is experiencing, given that the remaining ships will only get worse. Greater economic sustainability thanks to the ability to distribute unused quotas. Fishermen likewise value the opportunity to mobilize to protest repeated cuts.