MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain: Fuel protest paralyzes maritime trade

Dozens of cargo ships were kept waiting outside Spain's Mediterranean ports to unload yesterday as fishermen striking over fuel subsidies blockaded ports along the coast, industry sources said.

Fishermen have blockaded several Mediterranean ports against cargo and passenger ships as part of their protest for government help to offset record high fuel costs. The protest follows a similar strike by truck companies earlier this month, which ended after the government agreed to some concessions on fuel costs

Agriculture, Fishery and Food Minister Elena Espinosa, will meet this afternoon with representatives of the fishing sector to offer other aid "mechanisms" to offset the increase of fuel prices.

Ministry sources reported that yet another analysis of the government's offer ?an aid of EUR 0.084 per litre of gas oil- instead of the current EUR 0.06, between September 2004 and September 2005, will be undertaken at the meeting.

Until now, the government's proposals have not satisfied the coastal fishery sector, which claims the executive should guarantee a price of EUR 0.30 per litre of fuel sold at the petrol station.

Although Espinosa, from Luxemburg, called on fishermen "to put an end to the radical acts" of blocking activity at the different ports and cutting access to roads, the protest nonetheless have intensified in several areas of the country.

The main Mediterranean ports have been closed since last Sunday, with the strongest demonstrations witnessed at the ports of Castellón, Valencia, Gandía, Denia, and Alicante, and in some other sites such as Tarragona and Cartagena.

The fishing sectors in Cataluña, Murcia, and southern Andalusia have also decided to lobby the government with indefinite demonstrations and strikes.

In Cataluña, fishermen's associations have kept the port of Barcelona blocked, preventing the free transit of goods and passengers.

The port of Tarragona has been blocked since 23 October, which has notoriously affected commercial activity in the area.

The port of Cadiz, and the southern Atlantic coast of Spain, has also been paralysed. Basque fishermen decided today to join their Mediterranean colleagues and have blocked access to the main ports of the Basque Country in Bilbao and Pasajes.

However, not all the fishing sector will continue with the lobby, fishermen form Asturias and Galicia have resumed their activity.

The president of the Asturias Federation of Fishermen's Association, Dimas García, said the region's fishermen are not willing to support an indefinite strike because their vessels, of small and medium cabotage, have not been as adversely affected by the rise in gas oil prices. "Moreover, we are going through a good fishing period and we cannot afford such a strike," he explained.

In Galicia, although fishermen tried to resume their activities last Monday, some vessels had to remain moored due to a strong rainstorm. (BAH_FIS)