Fishermans Fuel Action Group

An Action Group has been set up to find ways to resolve the current Fuel crisis ,Until they produce there own website This page will outline this groups proposals


Help us help you.
The Fishermen’s Fuel Action Group is a committee of people from across the UK Fishing Industry committed to fighting for a reduction in the cost of fuel to the fishing fleet.
We have no particular affiliation to any Fishermans’ Assoc or is there bias toward any particular sector of the industry. We feel that the current fuel crisis can only be resolved by presenting a fully united front in negotiations with our Government and the EU commission.
We have the backing of the majority of the UK and Ireland’s Fishermans Associations, with, unfortunately, the exceptions of the Whitefish Producers Assoc and the SFF in Scotland and the NFFO in England.
We would ask you that no matter what your political affiliation to support us in any action that may be necessary to resolve the current crisis.
We intend to use this internet link to keep you informed of our progress and to call on your support as and when is necessary.
The bullet point report is a summary of why we feel the Fishing Industry is a special case with regard to fuel. Please feel free to print off this information, use it to inform anyone you feel may need to be educated on the problems we now face.
We may be calling on your services in the very near future so watch this space.
Thank you for your support.
Fishermen’s Fuel Action Group.
Contact initially by phone , 07766 231 800 or 0771 452 4900

If the fishing industry collapses an important National Resource will not be utilised.
Why should the fishing industry be considered a special case with respect to fuel prices?
Please read on and the points mentioned should answer your questions.
• Fishermen cannot pass on the increase in business running expenses’, (fuel price increases). Fish are sold on an auction basis and the price paid to the fisherman has not risen in the last 7-10 years, in many cases it has fallen to levels that were being paid 15 years ago. These selling prices will continue to fall as the processors pass on increases in production costs to the market floor because they can no longer pass on the increases to the consumer.
• Fishermen receive only 15-20% of the selling price to the consumer for their fish. If you pay £ 5.50 per Kg for Haddock the fisherman gets £0.80-£1.10 per Kg.
From this the running expenses’ of the boat,( now aprox 50% of gross), fish box hire, harbour and landing dues, transport to market , quota purchase and Tax have to be deducted, this leaves the grand amount of £0.25-£0.36 per Kg. This is split half to the vessel for maintenance, fishing gear, repair and business expenses’, and half to the crew as wages. The crew has then to pay income tax on their earnings.
• It is not uncommon over the last number of months for individual crew wages to be as little as £200, gross, for a 10 day fishing trip. The crew wages have fallen in excess of 60% in the past 18 months.
• Over the last 8 years the UK fishing fleet has been reduced by 65% to come in line with EU recommendations. This means that the fleet is now classed as “at a sustainable level”. The UK fleet is the only fleet in the EU to have achieved this, but it was at the expense of many businesses on shore as well as afloat. This in turn created unemployment which lead to the disintegration of numerous rural communities around the cost.
• Since the mid 70’s, fishermen have had to endure the EU Quota system as a fisheries management tool. This has been and is now recognised as an erroneous method of fisheries management. It basically works like this, in the mid 70’s an estimate of the number of fish in the UK waters was made. Then using unproven science techniques, (now recognised by scientists as unsound methodology). The powers that be then produced figures stating the amount of fish that could be caught each year. This was then split up into a monthly allocation and applied to each vessel and did not take into account of seasonal variations in fish density or adverse weather conditions. The way in which the amount of fish caught is calculated is based on landing information, this meant that if there was a lesser quota for one species the fishermen would avoid catching that species and therefore the landing figures would be down on the over the year. In turn when the scientists assed the landing data at the end of the period they concluded that there has to be less of that species because less was landed and cut the quota for the coming year. This has compounded the problem to the extent that a fishing vessel now has only 50kg of cod to catch per month.
• There is plenty of fish in the sea. Quota managers refuse to take account of global warming and rising sea temperatures in the UK waters. A prime example is Cod; there has been a shift of the fish to the colder northern waters over the past 4 years. Cod avoidance is one of the most difficult aspects of the fishing in these waters. A common quote from fishermen is “we can hardly go anywhere without seeing cod and in places that they were never seen before”.
• The fishing industry has not been subsidised. The last direct subsidy given to the fishing industry was a fuel subsidy during the early 70’s. This stopped in December 1975 and no direct subsidy has been given to the UK fleet since then, in fact the 30% grant we could claim for safety improvements on vessels was stopped 2 years ago.




Salt in the wounds.

• The French, Belgian, Dutch and Spanish fishing industries have all received financial help toward fuel costs. To date the French fishermen alone have received 310 million Euros in financial aid.

• The UK farming industry has received in the period 2002-2007 a staggering £8,434.1 million in direct subsidies. In 2007 alone it received £295.5 million in direct aid, on top of £279 million in export subsidy and another £235 million in rural development subsidy. A total for one year of £809.5 million. The UK is only 5th or 6th in the table of EU countries receiving EU farming subsidy.

• France has introduced a 2% tax on all fish/shellfish imports to help pay for their fuel aid. The UK exports approx 48% of its seafood to France. This equates to tariff in excess of £1.85 million per year. We pay for their fuel.

• If the UK industry collapses we will have to stand on the shore and watch the other member states harvest the UK’s fish resources, reaping the benefits of years of pain and hardship endured in our industry to achieve sustainable stock levels.

• A conservative estimate of the cost to the Government to provide basic unemployment benefits to the people that would be made redundant due to the collapse of the UK fishing industry is £13.5 million per year. This does not include the loss of taxation revenue.

Published by Fishermans Fuel Action Group

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