ARCHIVED - Mar Menor fishermen angered by claims that they are already casting their nets again

Murcia government minister says the San Pedro fleet have voluntarily gone back out to sea

The latest water quality data relating to the Mar Menor show a very slight improvement, with the amount of chlorophyll in the water having decreased minimally from record highs, but the issue of whether it is feasible for the fishermen based in Lo Pagán to cast their nets in the lagoon is becoming a highly controversial one.

Following the appearance of tons of dead fish and crustaceans on the beaches at the northern end of the Mar Menor in mid-October the fishermens’ guild of San Pedro del Pinatar announced that they would not set out to sea until at least January, when they would review the situation, and this at first met with the approval of the regional government. It was even agreed that the fishermen should be compensated for the lost revenue during the intervening period.

However, last week the fishermen complained that the regional government had curtailed the aid to the end of November, leading to bitter resentment, and on Tuesday of this week Antonio Lunego, the minister for Water, Agriculture, Farming, Fishing and the Environment in the government, stated that the fishing boats were already back out at sea. This, he said, was a voluntary decision made by the fishermen themselves, as was the decision to stop fishing just under a month ago.

Whether or not the catches in the Mar Menor would justify setting sail, Sr Luengo was unwilling to speculate, but he was at pains to insist again that there is no contamination in the water which currently represents a threat to the health of fish or human beings.

However, it would appear that Jesús Antonio Gómez Escudero does not agree with the minister’s reading of the situation. Until Monday he was the president of the Guild in San Pedro, but he has now resigned and seems outraged by Antonio Luengo’s affirmations.

Sr Gomez Escudero is quoted in regional newspaper La Opinión as saying that the fishermen feel “used” and “deceived” by Sr Luengo, adding that the 21 boats which have gone back out to sea are those which are not set to receive compensation for not fishing. This is because when they dropped anchor for the rest of the year in mid-October they had already exceeded their average annual catch in the last 3 years.

There are a total of 54 boats belonging to guild members, and Sr Gómez warns that difficult times lie ahead as they are not equipped to fish in the Mediterranean and “70 per cent of the water in the Mar Menor has deteriorated greatly”, especially in the centre of the lagoon. He also claims that some regular purchasers have told the fleet that the market price for some species, including eels, will be very low as the image of the Mar Menor has suffered so badly over the last couple of months.

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