“If I had the assist of the federal government, I might by no means have stopped fishing,” says Yiorgos Charalambous, a Cypriot from a fishing household who left the ocean in 2015 when he wanted more cash to assist his household. Though he additionally knitted nets for the fishermen, he has needed to search for a second job since 2010. At present he meets Constantinos Nicolaou, an underwater archaeologist, on the vacationer lodging the place he works as a upkeep man. Constantinos exhibits him images of the restoration challenge of the Queen, his final skilled fishing boat.
In 2004, Yiorgos joined the European Union’s everlasting cessation programme, a coverage carried out because the Nineties to cut back overfishing (1). In return for taking the boat out of the water, he may obtain monetary compensation relying on the traits of the boat, in his case €50,000 and €7,000 from the sale of the nets and the engine. “I known as Constantinos to ask if there was any risk of restoring and preserving the boat earlier than destroying it. If he hadn’t insisted, they might have destroyed it,” explains Yorgos.
On paper, everlasting cessation of fishing presents the potential for giving the vessel to a cultural affiliation to protect the construction, with the identical monetary compensation. Nevertheless, implementation shouldn’t be the identical in all Mediterranean fishing nations. In Cyprus, two decommissioning programmes have not too long ago been carried out: within the first, in 2013, all 122 vessels had been destroyed, whereas in 2015, all of them, round 110, had been saved.
The Balearic boat museums
The Balearic Islands are one of many examples the place extra boats have been saved. Tòful Mus provides guided excursions at Robadones, an outdated Menorcan quarry run by the Amics de la Mar affiliation, the place 100 wood boats are saved. Now we have two boats, Cala-Fons II and Moby Dick, and a llaut a conventional Balearic boat, Paloma, which was saved from destruction by the programme for the everlasting cessation of fishing within the Nineties.
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“The choice of handing the boat over to an affiliation to protect it was launched in 1994, due to a petition led by Catalans and Basques,” explains Manolo Gómez of the Mallorcan affiliation Amics del Museu Marítim. The info on the decommissioning within the Balearic Islands shouldn’t be public, however educational sources have calculated that the standard small fleet has decreased by greater than 40% since 1996. Among the many numerous causes there are the programmes to cease fishing.
Boat cull in Greece
The Greek islands have suffered the best destruction. Though no official figures can be found, it’s estimated that round 13,000 boats have been demolished. Yanis Psakis is a fisherman from Amorgos, an island within the Cyclades. He joined the programme in 2011. The EU gave him more cash than he may have made promoting the boat: €92,000. “The one possibility I had was to scrap it. We had heard that somebody had taken it to a museum, however they stated he hadn’t gotten the profit. The Kaiki was of historic worth and it was the household boat, so psychologically it was very troublesome. The minister of Agriculture, forestry and fisheries got here personally to ensure it was dismantled,” says Yanis.
Kostas Damianidis is working to open a museum on the close by island of Samos devoted to the preservation of conventional Aegean boats. “Now we have began negotiations with the ministry to implement this coverage. The programme has been in place for 30 years and now we have solely been capable of protect about 30 vessels. We tried to cease this legislation, however we did not succeed,” he explains.
The Ministry’s supply to protect the boat has not all the time been profitable, he provides: “It takes the fisherman months to receives a commission. Additionally it is an expense for the cultural associations, as a result of when the boat shouldn’t be within the water it wants much more upkeep. They do not get any assist as a result of the Ministry of Agriculture says it is the duty of the Ministry of Tradition, which does not see it that method.”
Malta’s postcard luzzus
In 2019, the clean-up division of the municipality of Marxaslokk, a fishing village in southern Malta, launched a video exhibiting the wrecking of Delia, an deserted 100-year-old ferilla, the standard Maltese wood fishing boat. There was lots of criticism and there gave the impression to be extra consciousness since then,” explains Ryan Abela, a member of the NGO Marxaslokk Heritage. A month after the interview, the municipality destroyed a luzzu owned by the organisation, which was to be restored within the following months.
The bay of Marxaslokk, the setting for the movie Luzzu, starring a Maltese fisherman who additionally helps a everlasting EU phase-out of fishing, is more and more empty of net-weaving fishermen and the standard vibrant boats. The luzzu, one other conventional wood boat, has turn out to be the logo of the island, showing on nearly each memento and vacationer brochure. “Individuals become profitable from the luzzus, however they do not perceive that if they don’t seem to be restored, it should all be over,” argues Noel Demicoli of the Malta Conventional Boats Affiliation.
“The bay is popping white”, says Daniele Baraggioli, additionally a member of the affiliation, referring to the dominant hue of the buildings, in distinction with the brilliant colors of the luzzus. “However you possibly can’t put strain on fishermen to protect conventional boats as a result of it is perhaps extra snug for them to make use of fibreglass boats,” he provides.
In Malta, the most recent out there information – analysed by a fishermen’s rights activist as a result of it isn’t public both – exhibits that 96 boats had been destroyed by 2016. “The entire cessation of fishing has hit small boats the toughest, as a result of they’re extra in want of financial compensation because of the precariousness of the sector. That is significantly the case within the Mediterranean, however not within the Atlantic or the Cantabrian Sea, the place there are small boats which have some quota and survive,” says Clara Aguilera, former Socialist&Democrats MEP and member of the Fisheries Committee (PECH).
EU regulation and fishermen’s precariousness
Rodolico’s workshop in Aci Trezza, in japanese Sicily, is now a showcase for vacationers, and there are few feluca left within the bay in entrance of it. Salvatore is the final technology of a household of boatbuilders: “It is the forms that has destroyed the enterprise, rather more than fibreglass boats,” he argues. The disappearance of conventional fishing additionally means the disappearance of professions linked to the sector. His workshop used to make use of as much as 40 individuals.
The Valastro household moor their boat close to the workshop. For the reason that starting of July, their boat has been reworked into a spot the place vacationers can study conventional fishing. “We determined to enter fishing tourism as a result of it was a method to earn more money in the summertime,” they clarify. Concetto and Guiseppe Valastro, father and son, level out that growing forms and EU rules are one of many major causes for the precariousness of the sector. “We’re very near Tunisia, and fishermen from third nations don’t face such extreme restrictions, for instance on the kind of nets they will use.”
“The European Union’s frequent coverage applies the identical fisheries coverage to all member states: Brussels has an incredible lack of awareness, the Nordic fishing boats usually are not the identical as ours,” stresses Domingo Bonnín, president of the Federation of Cofradias of the Balearic Islands. Furthermore, the legal guidelines favour the fishing business: “We can not compete, we’re at all-time low,” say members of the Maltese fishermen’s cooperative, the place tuna is the primary supply of earnings. “After we joined the European Union in 2004, we had been promised that conventional fishing can be protected, but it surely has been destroyed,” they add.
“Since then, there have been an increasing number of trawlers and enormous worldwide fishing ships. Small fishermen are pressured to promote their boats as a result of the massive corporations supply to purchase them. Then they scrap them and add the fishermen’s quotas to their very own,” says a Maltese fishermen’s rights activist, talking on situation of anonymity. “What’s extra, for those who do not catch a certain quantity of fish, they take away your quota and a much bigger ship buys it,” he provides. Among the Maltese fishermen we interviewed have rented out their quota to industrial fisheries: it’s extra worthwhile for them than going out to fish.
The necessity for quotas that favour conventional vessels and extra help for fleet modernisation are a few of the options that MEP Clara Aguilera believes are wanted: “If trawling is proscribed, conventional fishing may very well be sustainable. Should you learn the paperwork and take heed to the debates, evidently we’re all in favour of conventional fishing, however the actuality of the federal government’s actions is totally different.”
“Greek boats are what make the Greek individuals”
In mid-June, the fishermen of Amorgos put together for his or her feast. Michalis catches the fish that can be provided to the islanders “to thank them for purchasing fish from us for the remainder of the 12 months”. Dimitria chops up the leftovers to make fish soup. Nikola spends hours within the kitchens of the monastery of Agia Paraskevi, battering and frying the small fish that can accompany the primary course, a fish randomly distributed to every of the greater than 300 individuals current. White wine and syrtos, the island’s conventional dance, full the meal and prolong the night till 5 within the morning.
Yoannis Vekris is without doubt one of the few younger individuals on the island to take up the household baton. He has been at sea because the age of 10. In 2018, his father needed to promote the kaiki: monetary issues and Yoannis’s college charges had been the primary causes. “It was very laborious for my father. Greek boats are what make the Greek individuals,” he says. 9 months later they purchased a fibreglass skiff. He combines fishing with a level in fisheries and aquaculture know-how: “Now we have to search for options by way of schooling to reinvent the sector,” he argues.
“The dearth of fish is one other main downside, together with invasive species similar to lionfish,” he provides. To sort out the fish scarcity, Amorgos needs to pilot a ban on fishing in April and Could, through the regeneration interval. Throughout these months, the fishermen will “fish for garbage” whereas receiving public advantages. The challenge is a proposal by the fishermen’s affiliation Amorgama, along with Blue Marine and the Cyclades Fund. “Normally in our sector there isn’t a unity amongst fishermen, however in Amorgos it is a bit totally different, I prefer it that method, within the sea we already need to battle alone,” concludes Yoannis.
The decline of small boats and conventional fishermen is a reality, even when the info shouldn’t be formally printed in any of the Mediterranean nations. Wood boats and fishing households are an integral a part of the panorama, tradition and historical past of this a part of the world. With the proper rules, conventional fishing could be sustainable and may turn out to be the answer for a sea the place there are fewer and fewer fish. Nevertheless, European coverage, standardised and targeted on industrial fishing, with authorities coverage following the identical route, is resulting in the destruction of the sector.
This text has been produced with the assist of Journalismfund Europe. It’s printed throughout the Come Collectively collaborative challenge
Footnote
1) The regulation has been in place since 1991, however in 1994 the choice of cessation with out destruction was added. The regulation has been up to date recurrently, however the newest model is regulation 2021/1139 of seven July 2021. The precise regulation could be present in article 20.
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