Fishermen escalate their protest: the fish market in Nea Michaniona is blocked, Turkish imports denounced

The Greek fishermen’s protest is escalating: since Sunday night professional fishermen have been blocking the fish market in Nea Michaniona, Thessaloniki, while on Monday morning dozens of trawlers filled the port of Piraeus, as Newsit reports. All the fishing boats of Nea Michaniona have stopped work since Thursday (1 October) and the vessels remain anchored in the Thermaic Gulf.

The main cause, according to Newsit, is the dramatic rise in the cost of marine fuel compared with only a few months ago, as well as the lack of support measures. The fishermen demand an immediate fuel subsidy, so that they can continue going out to sea, and to be supported just like their colleagues of the other European Union countries.

The anger flared up even more after the denunciation of fish imports from Turkey: while the fish market was closed by agreement with the traders — most of whom support the protest — one or two of them broke their word and brought fish from Turkey, Ioannis Maritsas, a board member of the Panhellenic Union of Medium Fishing Vessel Owners, tells thestival.gr. ‘It is unethical and we will not allow it’, he declared, Newsit reports, while the fishermen asked for their delegation to meet the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy. In Piraeus, the fishermen anchored near gate E1, with the banner ‘Save fishing’.

Sector representatives demand immediate solutions from the government and warn: if the necessary initiatives are not taken, the farmers’ recent mobilisations — which blocked Greece for weeks — ‘will look small’ in comparison, Newsit writes.