Last week it was full of protest against diesel fuel costs with truckers in Britain blocking highways and fishing vessels halting port traffic on the English Channel in France. Hundreds of angry fishermen outside the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Fishing in Madrid, handed out 20 tons of fish to consumers lined up at trucks loaded with the catch of Europe’s biggest fishing fleet.
According to Spanish union leaders the strike among fishermen had 100 percent support and informed that more trouble is on the way: truck and taxi drivers are threatening a strike next week. Fishing fleet in Portugal stayed in port as skippers strung their boats together with mooring lines to prevent other vessels from unloading. The European Union is following the wave of strikes and protests that has sent a quick alarm to all Eu states.
According to some officials the fuel price subsidies is not the main issue as they said the protests had highlighted a deeper problem in the European fishing industry: too many fishing boats chasing dwindling stocks of fish. It is fact that the number of species that are over-fished in Europe has risen to nearly 90 percent, say European Union officials. In Italy also the fishing unions claimed widespread support for a strike.
