decommissioning fishing boats in Greece

[vas]

meant to post that last week but forgot...

anyway, as the end of fiscal year approaches, old fishermen going into pension (or whatever is left on that down here...) there are old fishing boats that have to be decommissioned. These are all wooden, I think mainly pine and the keel and frames made of something slightly better (and more expensive) with tiny diesel engines and minimal amenities.
This was a 5-6m one:

and this a much larger (maybe 9m?) one

Sad viewing indeed, a JCB to the destruction Of course engine, axle, prop and any other bits of kit worth saving are removed beforehand.

In most cases (I've seen 3 this year) the owner is not present in the "event" I can imagine a heart attack would be possible if present...
Before you ask, the destruction documented with before, during and after pics is necessary to delete the boat from the records (and stop charging the owner)

cheers

V.

 

[NB Willawaw]

Sad.

Lets hope the JCB driver doesn't get mixed up over the paperwork and do the wrong boat.

 

[vas]

Lets hope the JCB driver doesn't get mixed up over the paperwork and do the wrong boat.

not a chance, there are port authorities ppl involved the yard owner, representatives of the owner et al

Plus the boat is setup on the ground (after removing all valuables) in a convenient spot so that the yard owner can pickup and dispose the bits off easily.

V.

 

[dragoon]

These are all wooden

Not trying to be argumentative, but are you sure they're wooden? I swear I see glass fiber matting in the smaller one that was broken up.

Very sad to that happening though. Does it mean that there will be less boats fishing now? Is that because there will be less fish purchased? Just curious - I realise economically Greece is not in a great way, but people still have to eat and I imagine locally grown/caught/raised produce has to be the most cost efficient way?

Cheers,
Paul

 

[BartW]

sad vieuw indeed,

in Cassis SOF you see just the opposite;
each owner of a small fishing boat, usually he or his family owns the mooring, and also has authorisation to catch a certain amount of fish,
so they cherish the old boats very strong, and try to keep ownership in the family.

 

[vas]

Not trying to be argumentative, but are you sure they're wooden? I swear I see glass fiber matting in the smaller one that was broken up.

Very sad to that happening though. Does it mean that there will be less boats fishing now? Is that because there will be less fish purchased? Just curious - I realise economically Greece is not in a great way, but people still have to eat and I imagine locally grown/caught/raised produce has to be the most cost efficient way?

Cheers,
Paul

well spotted Paul, the small one (first two pics) had some matting on (tbh don't remember where, thought it was on deck but could be on the bow as well) It is (or rather was when originally built) wooden though

Yes I do mean there are less traditional fishing boats around. As I said, older fishermen getting into pension have to either sell the boat, or get one in the family to continue the business. If both fail, boat has to be scraped else pensioner has to keep on paying for various fees
With diesel prices going up and the economic crisis, it is hardly a viable occupation. These small fishing boats (there must be around 80-100 of them in Volos port alone) are bringing small quantites and are usually sold on the dock (nice view walking along the dock at 7-8am). I always wonder how they make a living out of 5-10kilos of fish (grossly exagerating on average intake)

OTOH, some keen on fishing (professionally) move to GRP hulled displacement boats (around 25-30ft). So, the traditional shaped greek wooden fishing boat numbers are slowly declining.

Maybe I should do a pictorial of fishing life in Volos at some point but not now that its -1 at night...

V.

 

[rafiki_]

well spotted Paul, the small one (first two pics) had some matting on (tbh don't remember where, thought it was on deck but could be on the bow as well) It is (or rather was when originally built) wooden though

Yes I do mean there are less traditional fishing boats around. As I said, older fishermen getting into pension have to either sell the boat, or get one in the family to continue the business. If both fail, boat has to be scraped else pensioner has to keep on paying for various fees
With diesel prices going up and the economic crisis, it is hardly a viable occupation. These small fishing boats (there must be around 80-100 of them in Volos port alone) are bringing small quantites and are usually sold on the dock (nice view walking along the dock at 7-8am). I always wonder how they make a living out of 5-10kilos of fish (grossly exagerating on average intake)

OTOH, some keen on fishing (professionally) move to GRP hulled displacement boats (around 25-30ft). So, the traditional shaped greek wooden fishing boat numbers are slowly declining.

Maybe I should do a pictorial of fishing life in Volos at some point but not now that its -1 at night...

V.

Yes it is a really sorry sight to see the demise of so many fishing boats around Europe. However, the Vas Christmas Day fire has plenty of fuel

 

[kashurst]

surely they are worth something to someone.
In hard times being able to grow some vegetables in your garden or catch some fish keeps people alive or in business.
Has Greece got so desperate for tax that you can't even take a few fish from the sea without paying a charge?

you see similar boats around Spain, with the old boys up at 6 am going out maybe 500 yards to catch what will probably be dinner.
what a waste

 

[vas]

Yes it is a really sorry sight to see the demise of so many fishing boats around Europe. However, the Vas Christmas Day fire has plenty of fuel

for sure raf
starting the fireplace at home with bits of delam ply from MiToS deck and bits from the pergola I have to prune every spring. Homebrew stuff

surely they are worth something to someone.
In hard times being able to grow some vegetables in your garden or catch some fish keeps people alive or in business.
Has Greece got so desperate for tax that you can't even take a few fish from the sea without paying a charge?

you see similar boats around Spain, with the old boys up at 6 am going out maybe 500 yards to catch what will probably be dinner.
what a waste

I realise I should have put more effort explaining all the variables in the first place, but we'll get there...

for tax yes, but it's a combination of charges that make it difficult:

• mooring,
• fish license
• fuel as they need to travel maybe up to 3h to and from
• MAINTENANCE! these wooden boats need once a year a lift out and various levels of patching/slapping with paint done in a v.cheap and poor way meaning that for sure got to be done again next season. So as the guys get older costs elevate if they cannot do it themselves...

Ah, not to mention that fish within the bay are reducing so they do have to travel longer and longer to get a decent catch.
hope it clears the whole thing a bit more.

I realised that the first two pics were taken a couple of days after the destruction and indeed what you see is bits of the grp slapped on top of the hull. The timber inside was already picked up by the man running the yard

V.

 

[fisherman]

Decommissioning has been going on here for years. We could never really understand why the boat has to be destroyed, and some very new ones, as well as very old ones, have been. The point is not with the boat, but the licence, which is returned to the MMO for a payment based on the licence units, which relates to length, beam and HP, and that fishing effort is removed from the fleet. If it is thought advantageous to remove effort from a particular fishery boats with a track record on that species will get an offer of so much a unit. One skipper fought tooth and nail for his boat (Confide, PZ 741) to be taken to Land's End as an exhibit, I think the keel had to be cut through first.

 

[ccscott49]

surely they are worth something to someone.
In hard times being able to grow some vegetables in your garden or catch some fish keeps people alive or in business.
Has Greece got so desperate for tax that you can't even take a few fish from the sea without paying a charge?

you see similar boats around Spain, with the old boys up at 6 am going out maybe 500 yards to catch what will probably be dinner.
what a waste

Most of these "bijou" fishing boats are EU subsidised, take up all the space in EU subsidised and built harbours, also dont pay, so dont cry too much and also, why overfish anymore, the meddy is dead already! Especially around Greece.

 

[AndieMac]

Most of these "bijou" fishing boats are EU subsidised, take up all the space in EU subsidised and built harbours, also dont pay, so dont cry too much and also, why overfish anymore, the meddy is dead already! Especially around Greece.

Could it be though that as the smaller fishing operators either leave or get pushed out by increased overheads, the allowable fishing quota and subsequent subsidies are then taken up by the large "super-trawler" cartels, the same ones that (reportedly) dishonestly manipulate the EU subsidy system and are so powerful they take on a countries government in international courts and blockade harbours when accusations of over-fishing arise, in what is apparently a global trend for these industrial scale fishing operations?

 

[ccscott49]

Could it be though that as the smaller fishing operators either leave or get pushed out by increased overheads, the allowable fishing quota and subsequent subsidies are then taken up by the large "super-trawler" cartels, the same ones that (reportedly) dishonestly manipulate the EU subsidy system and are so powerful they take on a countries government in international courts and blockade harbours when accusations of over-fishing arise, in what is apparently a global trend for these industrial scale fishing operations?

You might find that there is not much of any kind of large scale fishing fleet or large boats operating out of Greece much, I certainly see very little in the way of "fish" landed in Greece, apart from farmed fish, octopus and very small fish. Certainly no "super-trawler" cartels.

 

[AndieMac]

You might find that there is not much of any kind of large scale fishing fleet or large boats operating out of Greece much, I certainly see very little in the way of "fish" landed in Greece, apart from farmed fish, octopus and very small fish. Certainly no "super-trawler" cartels.

I really meant to comment on the EU subsidy issue and perhaps find out more about how it effects the small local operators in Europe in general rather than specifically Greece.
The big trawler fleets running on these subsidies are roaming far and wide and creating plenty of controversy in doing so.

 

[vas]

OK, I'm six years late, but this week they decommissioned a 10m long wooden fishing boat at the boatyard.
My friend did the destructing, as he said, thank god it was a fugly boat else he'd have problems doing it...


First dropping it down from it's support:

then a longish video of the breakup:

Amazed at how robust this thing was, falling down from 1m, it didn't even crack, just the ground under our feet trembled a bit. Was approx 8tons.
Note on the second video how the operator is finding it difficult to break the bow, wouldn't budge, dense framework (and thick) all in good nick.
Apparently boat was just over 20yo, owner had already a heart attack and is getting out of work, none to take over, so boat no more...

cheers

V.

 

[MapisM]

Note on the second video how the operator is finding it difficult to break the bow, wouldn't budge, dense framework (and thick) all in good nick.

Indeed.
The bit at 5:50 is particularly impressive, where the whole excavator is lifted from the ground but that's still not enough to break the bow.
Not very nice of you to post these videos, though. Made my Sunday rather sad…

 

[Seastoke]

So was the he jcb decommissioned as well ,ps what do they do with the fibreglass,roy

 

[vas]

Indeed.
The bit at 5:50 is particularly impressive, where the whole excavator is lifted from the ground but that's still not enough to break the bow.
Not very nice of you to post these videos, though. Made my Sunday rather sad…

sorry P,

actually saw the good part of it - realising how strong such a construction can be!

So was the he jcb decommissioned as well ,ps what do they do with the fibreglass,roy

you mean the one on the previous pics of mine back from 2012? No idea, the excavator used this week was a 20ton job.
No fibreglass on this last boat, all pieces went to the official land reclaim or whatever you call it job and disposed of as they should (don't ask me what that implies, no idea)

cheers

V.

PS. there are two more to break this week, I'll refrain from posting any more such videos...

 

[derekbland]

Didn't this happen in the UK when we gave up our fishing grounds to the large EU fleets. I Think I saw something about this on the TV. Sad wherever it happens.

 

[fisherman]

I strongly suspect that insistence on smashing up a decommissioned FV was so if we ever left the CFP we would have no boats to exploit our new found fishing wealth. It was never necessary, once the licence is handed in there is no way of 'getting away with it'. Some boats were broken up at less than ten years old.