The pounding which the European small vessel fleet has been taking from rocketing fuel costs and ever tighter catch controls, has finally forced Brussels to put what it calls ‘rescue aid’ on the table. It seems ready to bend the rules to let governments help “enterprises that appear to be close to bankruptcy….”.
The stumbling block, reports Peter O’Neill, has been the EU refusal to allow direct state subsidies of fuel prices. A Council of Ministers spokesman told World Fishing the ministers’ recent meeting welcomed the EU Commission (EC) plan for loans (and maybe grant cash) for indirect help. This could cover items such as the cost of new, replacement engines, which would also be more fuel-efficient.
The fact that it has taken the EU more than a year to get this far (ministers still have to give a formal OK to the plan for “Improving the Economic Situation in the Fishing Industry”) will be little comfort for some. There are owner/crew vessels which may have already gone to the wall or been tied up at the quay as fuel costs wiped out profit in catch sales in the last two years.
The detail seems to favour the smaller vessels, rather than boosting the bottom line of international combines. The latters’ industrial trawlers have been able to supplement home catch product for their parent company processors with ever more non-EU license catch or imports.
The EC says governments must realise “Rescue aid is to be seen as a short-term aid to keep an ailing enterprise financially afloat for the time necessary to work out a restructuring or liquidation plan”.
Deals could include a first change of fishing gear resulting in a less fuel-intensive fishing method, purchase of 'econometers' to help minimise fuel burn, “one” replacement of the engine provided that, for vessels under 12m in overall length and not using towed gear, the new engine has the same power as the old one or less. For all other vessels up to 24m, the new engine must have at least 20 per cent less power than the old one, and more points could be won by combining that with a less fuel-intensive fishing method. A small business, perhaps a cooperative of vessels, could score more points for eligibility for the rescue aid by decommissioning one of its boats. Fishermen must now wait to see how long it takes for the financial lifeboat to get into port where they are stuck.
