MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

European fishermen up in arms over fuel prices

Thousands of fishermen in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Belgium are on strike protesting rising fuel prices. Union leaders said on Thursday Portugal's entire coastal fleet stayed in port on Friday, while in Spain, 7,000 fishermen held protests at the agriculture ministry.

French fishermen have been protesting for weeks, with Belgian and Italian colleagues also involved. The strike reflects anger at the rising cost of fuel, with oil prices above 130 US dollars a barrel. Fishermen argue the cost of diesel has become prohibitively high, after rising 300% over the past five years. Wholesale fish prices, meanwhile, have been static for 20 years. Fishermen's leaders from France, Spain and Italy have been meeting in Paris to co-ordinate strikes and protests over the next three weeks in the run-up to a European Union fisheries ministers' meeting. The protesters are calling for direct immediate aid for the fisheries industry, coupled with increased subsidies. The European Commission said in a statement it was willing to show flexibility towards the industry but it has ruled out subsidies to offset rising fuel costs. Short-term aid packages were acceptable as long as they were used to address structural deficiencies in the fleets, it said. Several thousand fishermen marched on the Agriculture ministry in Madrid, where they handed out 20 tonnes of fresh fish to members of the public in an attempt to draw attention to their ailing industry. The unions also announced they would blockade ports, a day after French police forcibly removed fishermen blocking oil depots. In France the authorities have offered 100m euros in aid, prompting some fishermen to return to work. At dawn on Thursday, French riot police cleared protesters from the Mediterranean oil depots of Fos-sur-Mer and Lavera, and a Total refinery at La Mede in the south. On the same day police clashed with fishermen who burned tires in the Atlantic port of Lorient, while hundreds protested in Quimper, Brittany. On Friday, protesters blockaded the Channel port of Le Havre. In Italy, at least 5,000 fishermen are expected to again begin protests including a strike, the main trade union Federcoopesca says. The government has already refused emergency aid to the industry.