There are wide protests all across the world over the soaring fuel prices that make the lives of fishermen more miserable. The price of oil internationally has reaching all time record highs and the Federation of Commercial Fishermen conferred that those high prices are forcing smaller fishing companies out of business. According to the federation many fishermen have decided to take up different jobs as fishing is becoming too expensive as an occupation.
Federation spokesman Pete Dawson opined that the skyrocketing fuel costs are causing a mass exodus from the industry. According to him in 1994 there were more than 3,600 registered fishing vessels in the country and now there are fewer than 1,700. Dawson informed it is outrageous that while oil giants are making record profits, more and more fishermen are going under.
A spokesperson for Nelson fishing company Pursuit Fishing Ltd also told that the rising fuel prices are endangering livelihoods and has been lobbying the government for a fuel rebate. Liz Roche informed that fleets in Nelson and on the west coast of the South Island are paying the highest costs ever for fuel, while Australian fishing fleets receive a rebate of around 38 cents a litre.
