Hundreds from around the region and the rest of the UK will gather outside Defra on Tuesday to highlight the lack of Government support on fuel prices which is creating what industry leaders are describing as the worst crisis in living memory.

"I have not known a worse crisis in the industry," said Jim Portus, chief executive of the South Western Fishermen's Association. "The politicians are fiddling while this crisis is mounting. What no-one can answer is how long this peak of oil prices will last."

Elizabeth Stevenson, president of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO) and a partner in Newlyn's biggest fishing company, W Stevenson and Sons, said the situation was "absolutely dire".

"Many boats are laid up because they cannot afford to go to sea," she said. "It is absolutely dire for us, particularly for the beam trawlers in Newlyn and Brixham. The truth is that I don't think the Government will give us anything, even though the EU's Fisheries Commissioner, Joe Borg, has asked member states to give some limited short term aid to keep the industry afloat."

The demonstration is timed to coincide with a meeting of fishing industry representatives and UK fisheries ministers to discuss the fuel issue. The NFFO and the Scottish Fishermen's Federation have joined forces to impress on government ministers the urgent need for short-term, temporary, aid.

This would be to mitigate the effects of the rapidly escalating cost of fuel, which has doubled in the last year; providing short-term aid, which French and Spanish skippers are already receiving, would also help rebalance market conditions.

"We met the Jonathan Shaw, the minister, on May 15 because most, but not all, the other EU member states have got something," Mrs Stevenson said. "He promised we would hear from him within a week, and we have heard nothing."

Yesterday, Spanish and Portuguese fishermen went on strike in protest at the European Commission's reluctance to pay fuel subsidies. Italian and Greek fishermen are threatening to do the same, while a two-week campaign by French fishermen has caused havoc by blockading French channel ports and oil refineries. Fishermen from the French port of Boulogne are expected to cross the English Channel to join Tuesday's protest.

The prices of fuel for British fishing vessels has almost doubled in the last year, rising from 31p per litre in 2007 to 60p a litre in May 2008.

For many boats the cost of fuel is now more than 60 per cent of the expenses incurred on every fishing trip, which means that many boats are making a loss each time they set to sea.

article copyright Carol Trewin - Western Morning News 

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