French fishermen have since Tuesday been staging a complete blockade of six commercial ports, in order to protest about rising fuel prices and what they say is a lack of government support.
The blockade is taking place in the six main ports on the French island of Corsica, led by a young fishermen’s independent union which is blocking all access.
The préfecture reported that there were “seven vessels at berth and three waiting to unload” on the island by Wednesday. Farmers, notably from the Via Campagnola agricultural union, which supports the port blockade, could eventually join the protest on land.
The blockades come after hauliers staged several days of blockades and roadblocks in mainland France, in cities including Paris, Toulouse and Bordeaux, also over the rise in fuel prices since the start of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and the resulting closure of the Hormuz Strait.
Both hauliers and the Corsican fishermen say that the proposed government aid is not enough.
On Wednesday a cruise ship capable of carrying 6,800 passengers was due to arrive in Ajaccio, located on the west of the island, at 9.30 am, but did not turn up, the préfecture told AFP, adding that a gas tanker and a concrete barge had also cancelled their visits.
In a statement released on Tuesday evening, the préfecture called for “the immediate lifting of the blockades of Corsican port facilities, which are causing serious harm to Corsican households and businesses without providing a solution for the professionals concerned”.
But lifting the blockade does not appear to be on the agenda for the union defending Corsican fishermen.
“We’re at rock bottom. We’re really struggling to survive. If we don’t do something to save this small-scale industry, it will be the end of everything. The end of small-scale fishing”, union spokesman Joseph Sanna told France 2 TV.
“We stayed all night and will certainly stay again tonight because negotiations have reached a standstill,” Sanna told AFP on Wednesday.
The agricultural union Via Campagnola has issued a statement expressing its support for the fishermen’s movement, saying: “Fishermen live off the sea, farmers live off the land: our professions are similar, and so are the challenges we face.”
It said it was ready “to stand shoulder to shoulder with them” if “they do not obtain the necessary guarantees that fuel price support will be granted to them, as well as to farmers and all professions heavily dependent on fuel prices”.
