Island fishermen protest against European policies: "They treat us like criminals"

PalmDozens of fishermen from the Balearic Islands gathered this Monday in the port of Palma, on a day in which the artisanal fleet did not go out to sea to protest the new obligations imposed by Europe on the sector.

Specifically, as Domingo Bonnín, president of the Balearic Federation of Fishermen's Guilds (FBCP), explained to the media, the part of the regulations that most affects the archipelago's fleet is the requirement for prior notification of arrival in port and the registration of all catches. "What this regulation does, in its most philosophical sense, is treat us almost like criminals. They want us to register all our activities in the middle of the sea," Bonnín explained this Monday.

Although this regulation is easy for the Atlantic fleet to comply with, he emphasized, Mediterranean fishermen face a "clear impossibility." The fishermen's protest was attended by politicians from the People's Party (PP) and Vox, such as Gabriel Le Senne. At the start of the protest, they observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the Adamuz (Córdoba) train accident, in which relatives of the president of the Andalusian federation of fishermen's guilds lost their lives.

"In the Balearic Islands, with a small fleet—266 boats and 440 fishermen scattered throughout the archipelago—and with workdays of less than 12 hours, requiring four hours' notice before entering port, linked to a catch estimate, is impossible," he insisted. Failure to comply with this regulation could result in fines of up to €3,000, and its removal would mean the end of the fishing sector. "We could be left without a fishing industry," Bonnín warned. "The Balearic fishing sector will die of its own success. If it has to collapse, it should be due to a lack of fishing resources, but they are in good condition," he added.

A meeting to make small changes

Fishermen's associations from across Spain are scheduled to meet with the Spanish government's General Secretariat for Fisheries on Monday to discuss, primarily, the possibility of reducing or eliminating the mandatory advance notice period, which falls under the government's jurisdiction. "I don't want to be optimistic, but an agreement is possible," Bonnín said. However, he considered that these changes would be largely ineffective given that the advance notice period is tied to catch estimates.

"Most of our boats are still fishing four hours before entering port, and we don't know what they're carrying. It's not a question of wanting to or not wanting to, because we do want to, because traceability impacts our activity, but it's impossible," he emphasized. Furthermore, the president of the Balearic fishermen's guilds explained that implementing this Electronic Fishing Log would double the fishermen's administrative work, because the catch count is already done upon arrival at port.

"We're not office workers, we're fishermen. And bureaucracy has no place in the work of fishermen. We can't turn the deck of a fishing boat into an office," he pointed out. If the proposed modifications aren't implemented, Bonnín asserted that the boats will remain moored in the ports due to the impossibility of paying the fines.

The Government's position

The Director General of Fisheries for the Balearic Government, Antoni M. Grau, joined the fishermen in their protest and endorsed their demands. He explained to the media that, according to the government, there should be no requirement for advance notice or to declare catches before arriving in port.

"Obviously, knowing the catches is essential for managing resources, but it needs to be done in a reasonable way that makes life easier for fishermen," he argued. Grau attributed the restrictive nature of this new regulation to an "ideological issue of the previous European government" and expressed his hope that the current Commissioner for Fisheries, Costas Kadis, has the capacity to implement changes to what he described as "an outrage."

"We have a good relationship with the commissioner and we know he wants to change it, but he has the previous team and they are against him," he asserted. Regarding this afternoon's meeting, the director general expressed his hope that an agreement could be reached with the government "to reduce or even prevent this from being applied." "The Spanish government now sees that the problem is very serious, but their proposal was to reduce the notice period from four to two and a half hours. And it's neither four, nor two, nor half, nor any amount," he said.