The proposed limitations that the EU plans to hand down on trawler fleets, amongst them those of Motril Port, make it economically unviable to continue.

The numbers of days that they will be allowed to fish during the entire year is only 27 days, which is nearly an 80% cut on the permitted days allowed at the moment.

Consequently, fishermen guilds from all the Mediterranean ports; i.e., Andalucía, Murcia, Balearic Islands, Comunidad Valenciana and Cataluña, protested in front of the EU offices in Madrid.

They had banners asking, “Can you imagine if you had to support your family with only 27 days of work a year?”

The protest was organised by the Federación Nacional de Cofradías de Pescadores and the Board of Shipowners, Cepesca, which consider that if the cuts go ahead, trawling will disappear in the Mediterranan for the 556 trawlers that still exist.

The Motril trawlers were already struggling with the present 130-day limitation in effect.

Editorial comment: all this is a consequence of decades of overfishing, unfortunately, and the damage done to seabed by bottom trawlers. Amazingly, even in the early 80s, Spain still had the biggest fishing fleet in the world, second only to the combined fleets belonging to the USSR.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: EU, Trawlers, Catch Limitations, Drastic Cuts, unviable economically, Fishermens Guild, Board of Shipowners

Reader comments: “(“Can you imagine if you had to support your family with only 27 days of work a year?”) They will have to rely on the State for financial support? This proposal by the EU is criminal imo and I fully support the fisherman.” – Julie