ARCHIVED - Bitter Mar Menor fishermen stage protest outside regional government buildings

The fishermen demand solutions to the crisis in the Mar Menor

The members of the fishermen’s guild in San Pedro del Pinatar, most of whom usually cast their nets in the Mar Menor after setting sail from the harbour of Lo Pagán, are staging a demonstration outside the regional government Department of Agriculture building in Murcia on Wednesday to protest over the condition of the Mar Menor and the way they have been treated in recent weeks.

Following the appearance of tens of thousands of dead fish and crustaceans on the beaches of the lagoon in October, their deaths being attributed to the rapid deterioration in water quality after the process was accelerated by the gota fría storm of February, it was decided that the fishing fleet of San Pedro should stay in port at least until January on the grounds that there were simply not enough fish to make it worth their while to set out to sea. At the same time they were guaranteed compensation for the intervening period by the regional government, but now they report that the compensation is to be ended at the end of November.

After that, they say, they have been informed that they will be able to begin fishing again, but of course there is no guarantee that they will not be returning to land with their nets empty, as they suspect will be the case.

The fishermen are keen to stress that the cause of the mass death off fish last month was not the Gota fría storm: this was merely a catalyst, the underlying cause being the “constant attacks” on the marine environment over the course of decades. The whole affair, they say, shows that governments and political parties have failed to deal with the “worst environmental catastrophe in the history of the Region of Murcia”, in the words of the head of the guild, Jesús Gómez.

Until now, they say, the only measure to protect the Mar Menor has been implemented by the fishermen themselves, in reference to their leaving whatever fish remain in the lagoon untouched.

When the fleet first decided to remain in port last month the regional government promised a collective compensation for the cessation of activity of 150 people involved in fishing in San Pedro until January of 535,000 euros, but with the end of the moratorium having been brought forward by a month the figure has dropped to 400,000 euros.

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