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Photos: Greek fishermen scrap boats and livelihoods as stock depletes
Updated On Jul 05, 2018 09:37 am IST
Hundreds of fishermen across Greece’s ports are turning in their boats and their licences, partly because catches are down, and partly because the EU and the Greek government are offering them cash to leave the trade, under a scheme to protect fish stocks. Europe's environment agency says those stocks have reached a critical level in the Mediterranean, with serious implications for the people living on its shores who have found their food there for centuries.
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Panagiotis Pagonis (L) on the deck of his fishing boat off Asprovalta in northern Greece, grimaces at another empty catch. “It’s all gone to hell,” the 72-year-old muttered as the early glimmer of dawn lit up the waters. (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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Ten days later, he looked on as the mechanical arm of a bulldozer ripped through his vessel, the Katerina, crushing a lifetime of memories. He had been at sea since he was a child. But the scrap yard took just minutes. (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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The steering wheel of Ioannis Loukakis' fishing boat ‘Smaragdi’ is seen in the village of Sarti. Hundreds of fishermen like him are turning in their boats and their licences, partly because catches are down, partly because the EU and the Greek government are offering them cash to leave the trade, under a scheme to protect fish stocks. (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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Europe’s environment agency says those stocks have reached a critical level in the Mediterranean, with serious implications for the people living on its shores who have found their food there for centuries. Pagonis said the catch has fallen by 50% in recent years, a repercussion he believes of over-fishing, lack of regulation and pollution. That, together with higher running costs for his boat, forced his hand. (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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Dimitris Karapetsas, 67, fishes onboard ‘Katerina’ off the shores of Asprovalta. “I have been doing this job for 67 years. I have travelled to practically all of Greece, and now, I have reached my limitations,” Pagonis said. “I feel sad, I didn’t want it to end this way.” (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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Fisherman Stelios Didonis, stands onboard his boat ‘Panagiotis’, two days before it is destroyed, at the port town of Stavros. Squeezed by an economic crisis which has sapped salaries and pensions and left a fifth of adult Greeks jobless, many fishermen have found the compensation too tempting to ignore. (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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A worker kneels under ‘Panagiotis’ before it is sent for destruction. Payments range from 6,000 to 260,000 euros depending on the size of the boat. People can simply turn in their licences and find something else to do with their vessel. But to get the full payment, they have to take their boat to the scrap yard. (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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It is a painful process. Ioannis Loukakis said he was scrapping his boat ‘Smaragdi’, because of his age and because there are also too many expenses for oil, fishing lures and baits. “I am feeling like I’ve been stabbed with a knife,” he said of destroying his boat, “it is as if a human is dying.” (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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Dimitris Ioannou, 30, works on a wooden tourist boat at his family’s traditional shipyard at the port town of Ierissos. The crisis has had a knock-on effect on traditional shipbuilders. “They want to stop (over) fishing to protect the sea. But destroying boats will destroy us as well. So I think they are not doing something right,” shipbuilder Yannis Prasinos said. (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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A boat that is to be destroyed is seen at the port town of Ierissos, Greece. “The sea is my entire life,” said 48-year-old Stelios Didonis. He looks forward to resting for a month, tired from getting up at 4:00 am for 30 years. But he is not sure what he will do after that. (Alexandros Avramidis / REUTERS)
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