Fishermen ‘facing ruin’ over spiralling fuel costs

IRISH fishermen are facing financial ruin because of spiralling fuel costs, an EU delegation to west Cork heard yesterday.

Immediate intervention at national and EU level was necessary to prevent an “unprecedented crisis”, members of the EU Parliament’s Fisheries Committee heard during a meeting with Irish fishery representatives in Castletownbere.

“Fuel prices are absorbing in excess of 60% of operating costs and many fishermen are facing economic ruin,” Gerard O’Flynn, chief executive of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, told delegates including MEPs Colm Burke and Brian Crowley.