Up to 80 fishermen are expected to opt out of the profession this year, as overfishing and dwindling fish stocks draw dolphins closer to shore waters looking for food while the puffer fish continues to damage nets.
About 120 fishermen holding a licence to operate smaller vessels less than 12 metres long, have applied to a different scheme to encourage fishermen to retire, leaving behind a smaller and more sustainable number of fishermen.
There are currently between 450 and 500 licensed fishermen – applications have not been fully processed yet so a precise figure couldn’t be given. Kyriacou said the fisheries department expected to help between 70 and 80 of those licensed fishermen to retire, with some 3.0 million available in total.
Fishermen who retire their small vessels will get 20,400 plus the value of their boat as designated by a committee within the fisheries’ department that should come to about 17,000 on average. Under previous equivalent schemes, 12 bigger vessels have been retired with between 20 and 25 vessels remaining. And whereas there used to be eight Cyprus-flagged trawlers, there are now just two that are active off Malta, Kyriacou said.
Professional fishermen used to get state help for damaged nets that was set according to how often they went out to sea in the previous year and reached up to 1,700 a year for the busiest fishermen, Kyriacou said. With austerity measures in place, the government stopped paying the subsidy in 2012.
Kyriacou said that a different compensation scheme would help control the puffer fish population, which is a consistent problem for fishermen in Cyprus.
Dolphins sometimes manage to get fish out of nets without injury to themselves and can be a nuisance to local fishermen, but it is the Lagocephalus puffer fish that can inflict greater damage to fishermen’s nets, the department’s Yiannos Kyriacou said.
Puffer fish damage nets and impinge on fishermen’s income with the professional fishermen in the Famagusta district previously protesting on what they said were unreasonable fishing quotas. Daily Politis yesterday quoted a fisherman from Famagusta’s Paralimni as complaining about a pod of dolphins destroying their nets a few days ago.
For the second year running, a 150,000 programme whose expenses are split with the European Commission, allows registered fishermen to net puffer fish during the summer period (until September) in exchange for compensation. Trading puffer fish is illegal because of the species’ toxicity, but participating fishermen will get 3.0 per kilo, with the fish being disposed of as waste according to specified arrangements, Kyriacou said. Because puffer fish breed in June and July, the hope is that the scheme will control the population.
The United Nations and the European Commission regulate fishing on regional and national levels. Restrictions vary from imposing fishing quotas to specifying fishing season and methods for specific species. We all fish in the same seas, there is no point for one country to protect a migrating species if they are not protected elsewhere, Kyriacou said.
2009 Cyprus mail Ltd.