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Fishing boats docked in port as a sign of protest. T.C.
The Government Forces Alicante Fishermen to Change Nets to Maintain 2024 Fishing Days

The Government Forces Alicante Fishermen to Change Nets to Maintain 2024 Fishing Days

The La Vila Joiosa Brotherhood Claims the Executive 'Prolongs the Sector's Agony'

Todo Alicante

Alicante

Miércoles, 8 de enero 2025, 17:45

La Vila Joiosa Fishermen's Brotherhood criticised on Wednesday that the General Secretariat of Fisheries "imposes" the mandatory change of nets, closures, and stoppages in exchange for maintaining the same fishing days as in 2024, leaving the sector "without guarantees of aspects such as the non-application of new restrictive measures from 2026 or the payment of aid for those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits due to the reduction of days."

The General Secretariat of Fisheries "imposed" in a meeting this Tuesday, in addition to fishing closures and stoppages, "the mandatory change of nets for trawlers in the Spanish Mediterranean in exchange for maintaining the same fishing days (130) as in 2024."

"This measure, far from being welcomed as a relief, undoubtedly prolongs the agony suffered by the sector," the entity criticises. After four years in which fishing days have been reduced by 40% compared to 2019, "we now face restrictive and mandatory measures that force the sector to organise a calendar with eleven working days per month," up to a total of 132.

"While these are not the 27 days we faced just a few weeks ago, this new work calendar is, as we all know, completely insufficient to maintain the profitability of a business, as well as to guarantee the purchasing power of workers," criticised the Chief Patron of the La Vila Joiosa Fishermen's Brotherhood, Miguel Felipe Solbes.

The chief lamented that "perhaps today those responsible for devising these measures can sleep peacefully after so many days of negotiations, or what we consider impositions, but what they can be sure of is that they will not be remembered as the saviours of the sector, but quite the opposite."

New Work Year

For the La Vila Joiosa Brotherhood and the rest of the sector, a new work year begins "comprising 132 days, restrictive measures, and the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen in the coming months." They criticise that neither Minister Luis Planas nor the General Secretariat of Fisheries "guarantee today the non-application of new restrictions from 2026."

On the other hand, they lament that "the issue of receiving European aid (Fempa) for all workers who stop working remains unresolved," which "takes up to a year and a half to arrive, forcing workers to use their own unemployment benefits."

Furthermore, they state that the "bottleneck currently existing between the central administration and the autonomous communities regarding the aid that shipowners should receive for stopping their activity is not resolved; no one ensures that they will be paid, at least, at the beginning of the year following the respective stoppages (currently, the aid for 2023 and 2024 is owed)."

Solbes warned that they will continue to claim what they believe is "fair, doing what we do best, which is going out to fish every morning to bring fresh, quality, and local fish to all homes, even, who knows, to the table of one of the leaders who has led us to this situation."

The trawler fleet of the La Vila Joiosa Fishermen's Brotherhood will remain docked throughout January and will resume its activity at the beginning of February. "From this moment, a work calendar specifically created for the year 2025 is taken as a reference," it states.

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todoalicante The Government Forces Alicante Fishermen to Change Nets to Maintain 2024 Fishing Days