For three years, fishing for sea urchins in Sardinia stops: what was collected yesterday is on sale for the last few days, then the stop. The ban is provided for by regional law 17 of 22 November 2021 to allow for restocking.
The fishermen, however, are on a war footing and announce battle. "We are organizing ourselves - says Gesuino Banchero, representative of professional divers - From Monday anything could happen, from blocking the ports with our boats to the occupation of the Department of Agriculture with a demonstration in front of the Regional Council. We will see, but we cannot to do other things: we risk dying of hunger. Two hundred small businesses are closing down here throughout Sardinia. Not to mention related industries ". Furthermore, "sea urchin pulp is already arriving from France, Galicia and Tunisia and, in addition, there is illegal activity that will probably go on: the product will be there, but we will not be able to work".
The regional council has given the green light to the guidelines for interventions in support of professional underwater fishermen, for which a total of 2 million and 800 thousand euros have been allocated (400 thousand euros for 2021, 1 million and 200 thousand euros for each of the years 2022 and 2023). "But - continues Banchero - the times are long and these indemnities risk arriving too late. And in the meantime? Among other things, the indemnities for Covid have not arrived. We have repeatedly asked the councilor to find alternative measures such as the reduction in the quantity of fish caught. But we have not received any answers and we have not obtained alternative solutions ".
The possible use of fishermen for the recovery of plastic in the sea has already been foreseen: "True - concludes Banchero - but even here it will take time. The closure for us is overnight, but we do not know when the alternative solutions will be ready. ".
(Unioneonline / ss)
