The President of the Black Sea Fishermen’s Organization, Laurentiu Mirea, announced that fishing in Romania is in the most difficult time in the last 30 years and stated that a problem is the presence of mines in the Black Sea, stating that fishermen are afraid to go out because of them and even night fishing can no longer be done under these conditions.
The sea mine discovered near Constanța PortPhoto: Romanian Naval Forces
“At this moment, fishing in Romania is in the most difficult moment in the last 30 years. Two, three years ago, from 14 – 15 thousand tons of catch that we made, last year we made 2,600 tons”, Laurentiu Mirea told journalists, according to News.ro.
He stated that another dissatisfaction of the fishermen is the fact that they have to return the financial aid received during the pandemic.
“We received the help from COVID, the money sent from Europe that the General Directorate of Fisheries within the Ministry of Agriculture granted us and three months ago they sent us notifications to give the money back. So we received the help and we are being asked for the money back. I accessed their guides, I didn’t make any mistakes in accessing them. An audit committee from the Court of Accounts came together with the General Directorate of Fisheries within the ministry and said that we should not have benefited from this COVID aid. We already have to give money back. Already six companies out of 18 affected companies are in execution at ANAF. ANAF came, blocked our accounts and seized our ships”, said the president of the Black Sea Fishermen’s Organization.
“In the trawl, the pescadoras caught more than 10 mines”
He specified that other problems faced by fishermen are the presence of sea mines and the fact that communication systems at sea no longer work.
“At this very moment, we were supposed to receive aid for the war in Ukraine, because the Romanian fishing trawlers caught over ten mines. Many times I notified the authorities or I didn’t. We have a problem regarding navigation, all that means communication systems, GPS, the stations are not working, it’s a general block. The National Fisheries Agency, led by Marian Avram, is not close to the sector, it has not made any effort to save this aid from Covid and, at the same time, the general director of the Directorate of Fisheries, Gheorghe Ştefan, is not doing anything for the sector and for on the stairs. If we go this way, I guarantee you that next year we won’t have any more fishing in the Black Sea. In this way, I appeal to the Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, urgently to come with competent people, to help the sector and let’s try to do something for Romania”, the president of the Black Sea Fishermen’s Organization also sent.
“Fishermen are afraid to go out”
He was asked why fishermen no longer notify the authorities when they find sea mines.
“Every time we notified the authorities, many times we were very scared and did not notify again, because if a pescador, I will give you an example, was in the Jurilovca area until the Romanian Navy came from berth zero, we were told , take the mine trawl, go to this area, trawl until we come. And then the boys, scared many times, left the trawlers in the water, gave them the coordinates, got scared and ran to the shore”, said Laurentiu Mirea.
He added that fishermen are afraid to go out to sea because of the mines.
“We have another problem: the workers, the fishermen on the ships, at this moment they are afraid to go fishing, because you sit all the time and look where the mine is, it reaches the ship, my ship explodes, I still get to my family. The situation is effectively desperate. We can’t fish at night anymore. Fishing in the summer, during the summer season, was done at night. We no longer have the courage to go out fishing at night. During the day we go out a little, we return scared, we look after me, we are executed by ANAF. The situation is very, very difficult. Mr. Barbu must do something for the Romanian fishing”, said Laurentiu Mirea.
