Parliament is a fisherman’s friend

ANGRY fishermen gathered outside parliament protesting against the decision of the House Agricultural Committee to change the licensing system for their profession.
The fishermen, objecting to the committee’s decision to increase in the number of professional fishing licences, eventually left smiling after House President Demetris Christofias assured them that the parliament would not approve the decision of the committee.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, the Chairman of the Cyprus Professional Fishermen’s Union Andreas Adamou said the committee’s decision would have had a devastating effect on the fishermen. Adamou complained that amateur fishermen were using professional equipment, threatening to fish the professionals out of their livelihood.
“We are here today because we want the list of 500 licences the legislation to remain and we don’t want to see it increased. Increasing the list would be dangerous because the repercussions on fishermen’s jobs and families would be devastating, but also the fish reserves would drastically decrease.

“We have other issues that we want solved but we are taking things one step at a time and we believe that this particular issue is the most outstanding and vital.”

Around 80 fishermen had gathered around the entrance of the parliament building in the baking sun yesterday morning, smoking and engaging in loud discussions among each other on the problems they face.

The chairman of the committee, Christos Mavrokordatos, said later in the day that “the aim of parliament is to protect the fishermen who wake up in the morning, stare at the sky and sail away into the sea to earn their living.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.