PROFESSIONAL fishermen are complaining they are being driven out of the business because of an EU directive aimed at curbing overexploitation of fish reserves, yet no one seems to have a clue how to satisfy the insatiable demand for fish once local trawlers are put out of service.
New EU policy for the Mediterranean has made life difficult for the normally bustling trade in Cyprus. Owners of fishing vessels are now obliged to implement a string of requirements, ranging from hygiene to the size of the lattice on the nets they use.
This has had two major effects: on the one hand, falling in line with these regulations involves upgrade expenses; on the other hand, the new regulation nets are designed specifically to reduce the catch.
The fishing business in Cyprus has traditionally been a small-scale family affair. But now even the big players are having second thoughts about whether to pull in their nets and head home – permanently. They have one of two options: stay and weather the storm, or withdraw their boats and seek employment elsewhere.
Those going for the latter option will receive compensation, calculated on a boat’s size, age and other criteria. A reimbursement fund of around £1.7 million (half coming from the EU, the rest from the government) has been set aside, but trawler owners insist they’re getting a raw deal.
“What they’re giving us is nowhere near enough,” said Georgios Yiallouros, owner of two large fishing boats.
“When do you do the maths, it works out to about £25,000 compensation per person, maximum. What kind of deal is that?”
Moreover, Yiallouros believes that the application of the new regimen is misguided. He explained that about 70 per cent of the catch was whitebait, perhaps the most popular variety of fish in Cyprus.
“That’s how we make most of our living,” he went on. “But whitebait has a lifespan of around six months, so there’s no danger here of fishing too many adults before they reach mating season. Plus, we head out to sea four to five months a year only.
“Our main customers are fish markets, not restaurants. Whitebait is the poor man’s fish, so to speak. It’s delicious and inexpensive. What happens when our catches further drop?”
Owners of restaurants and fish taverns generally agree that the local catch (other than whitebait) has always fallen short of demand. They say that over the past couple of years, imports from Libya and Egypt have increased significantly. Needless to say, the imported fish is more expensive, although one tavern manager in Nicosia said the price difference was not that great as to be prohibitive.
The restaurants may have found a way around for the time being; but for a nation that consumes a staggering amount of fish, the shortfall looks set to pose a major problem.
Neither does the government appear to have a Plan B. Fisheries officer Nicos Hadjistefanou of the Ministry of Agriculture told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that “the expected shortages in fish are a cause of concern, and we’re looking at possible solutions to this.”
Hadjistefanou stressed that the compensation programme was “voluntary”. Boat owners may beg to differ, though, claiming that the new EU environment is driving them bankrupt. In any case, they have until the end of the month to make a decision. And in the meantime, they plan to lobby the Finance Ministry in the hopes of securing more cash that will make abandoning their work less painful.
