Greek fishermen left scraping the bottom

[Crvena zvezda]

Greek fishermen left scraping the bottom

A day's trawling in the Saronic Gulf exposes the effects of decades of overfishing

THRASY PETROPOULOS


Slim pickings: The first of five catches for the Tourtakis G fishing trawler on April 7

THERE are ten icons and a braided tangle of garlic bulbs on the bridge of the Tourtakis G, but if it is inspiration from above that George Tourtakis is looking for, he would be better advised to look below the waterline.

The 35-year-old, third-generation fisherman and owner of a kaiki that trawls daily in the Saronic Gulf is only too aware of the tumbling fish stocks that have left him with ever-smaller catches and ever-tighter profit margins.

"We're catching about a third of what my father caught," he says, followed by a laugh at the apparent absurdity of his next comment. "As for my grandfather, there were so many fish in those days that they practically leapt onto the boat."

The tale of the Tourtakis family highlights the riches-to-rags story of Aegean fish stocks.

Grandfather Polyhronos began his working life in Halikida, on the eastern mainland, and came down to Piraeus to trade at the nearby market of Keratsini, which supplies most of Attica. With a work ethos that still has grandson George - who once flirted with a career in photography - working 14-hour days, the family business grew from running small, traditional kaikia to owning a 35-metre steel-hulled trawler.

Five years ago, however, George downsized to a 22-metre wooden vessel.

"I've been doing this job my whole life and can see far," he says. "We had to make changes and fast. In two, three years, I may not be doing this. I'll probably be trading in the market. That's where the money is. There just aren't fish to make this sustainable. There are 357 of these boats around Greece. In a few years, there will be less than half. We are going through a crisis."

Going through two packets of Marlboro Lights a day can be no coincidence.

Diminishing returns

There are many who have no sympathy for Greece's struggling fishermen.

By the agriculture ministry's own reports, red mullet and cod are heavily overfished in the Saronic Gulf. Yet, according to Greenpeace, the ministry decided last month that recent EU restrictions on the proximity of fishing boats to the shore would not hold for some commercial fishing.

And although size restrictions exist, more and more juvenile fish are being netted and sold at island markets, threatening future generations. Unsurprisingly, enforcement is scarce.

A ban on trawlers working in the inner Saronic Gulf between April and September when fish are spawning has, according to Tourtakis, limited effect. He notes this is partly because the gri-gri fishing boats, which use lights to attract sardines and anchovies to the surface where they are captured in surrounding nets, are exempt from the restrictions.

According to the European Environment Agency, up to 70 percent of commercial fish in the wider Mediterranean are in danger of extinction. Chief among them is the bluefin tuna, prized by the Japanese sushi market and hunted down using spotter aeroplanes. Last year, EU bluefin tuna quotas were breached by September, prompting a complete ban until the end of the year.

In the Aegean, some 20 percent of commercial fish species are estimated to be at risk of extinction, but the eyewitness accounts of fishermen suggest an even bleaker picture.

Net losses


Working the winching gear, sorting the fish and packing the ice are all carried out by Egyptian seasonal workers

While fishing is still a profitable business, it is unrealistic to expect this prognosis to change. Tourtakis, whose two cousins, also named George and Hronis, are also fishermen, is straight-talking when discussing figures.

His eponymous kaiki cost him 500,000 euros, of which he put down 220,000 from savings and the sale of his previous boat. Winching gear, valued at 150,000 euros, was taken from the old boat and the last of the remaining 130,000 euros was paid off late last year.

He insists, however, that the profits are minimal given the risks involved - financial and physical - and that they are scant reward for a daily routine that starts at 3.30am and ends at around 7pm.

"There is time for a bath, a meal and maybe a film in the evening," he says. "I'm in bed by 9.30pm. There is no going out. I give myself one, maybe two days off a month. And there are always costs. Last month, I put down 5,000 euros for new nets."

Rising fuel prices are also taking their toll. Of daily running costs of about 600 euros, around 450 euros are spent on fuel.

The four-man crew of the Tourtakis G are Egyptian, as are most crewmen of Greek fishing boats due to a bilateral agreement between the countries allowing Egyptians to work nine-month contracts in Greece.

They are paid the 650 euro minimum wage but are given a monthly bonus of between 400 and 500 euros. "Given the risks and the hours, they would not do it otherwise," Tourtakis says.

As far as pay for seasonal workers goes, this is generous, although living conditions in the forecastle of the Tourtakis G are rudimentary, to say the least.

"They are grateful for the work and good at what they do," says Tourtakis. "Gone are the days when Greeks would do this kind of work."

Handling of the casting winch, the ice and the fish is done by bare hand, and time between catches is often spent mending nets. Of the Tourtakis G's five catches on April 7, two bore only meagre quantities of prawns, langoustines and squid, two were better-than-expected hauls of cod, red mullet and squid, along with a number of octopuses, rays, dogfish and other fish, while one came up with nothing more than a shredded net.

Dropped to depths of up to 130 fathoms (234 metres) in the ever-extending search for fish, nets are often snagged on the uneven seabed.

In all, Tourtakis returned to Keratsini shortly before sunset with some 60kg of cod, 15kg of red mullet and 70kg of squid.

Work like an Egyptian


A rare example of throwing back fish that have no market back at Keratsini

Shawky Taha Wans, a 59-year-old crewman who has spent more than half his life fishing in Greek waters, says his experience on the Tourtakis G is no different from that on any other boat he has been on in Greek waters recently.

"I've worked everywhere in this country, and there is no comparison to the old days," he says. "You see these baby cods we are packing now, we used to throw them back into the sea. The boats were smaller then and there was no market for them. It is the same for all fish. None of it would have been kept."

And the need to squeeze profits and concentrate on smaller fry has had other negative consequences.

"The people back then were good-hearted," he says. "They had respect. They would ask you your name and then call you by it. Now they just whistle. They would bring you food and sweets from their home. You don't find that these days - not in Piraeus, not anywhere."

There have been some improvements, however. The completion of the sewage treatment plant on the island of Psyttaleia, a few miles off the Keratsini coastline, has had a notable effect on the quality of fish caught in the inner Saronic Gulf over the past 10 years, the crew said.

According to the crew, fish previously had a "slight smell to them" and sewage was often brought up in nets. Ironically, the sewage attracted fish to the area, particularly koutsomouria (small red mullet), which fed on the residue.

Criminal catches



Third-generation fisherman George Tourtakis says he nets a third of what his father caught

While marine ecologists continue to produce statistic after statistic to reinforce the message that short-term gain is causing longterm environmental destruction (particularly from bottom-trawlers), conversation is where the matter ends with most fishermen.

"It is hardly surprising because there is no on-the-job education," says Tourtakis. "Everything I know I learned from my father or through experience. We desperately need to know what our colleagues in Europe and the rest of the world are doing to combat similar problems.

"There are two unions, the Panhellenic Union of Trawler Owners and a local union. At our July meeting, we need to seriously discuss the possibility of banning fishing in these parts in May, when baby fish are born. Every May, you see fishermen - and I don't exclude myself from this - committing a crime. There is no other word for it. We bring up tonnes of undersized fish.

"There is so much fish in May that you see trawlers going up and down until their fridge holds are full. They then go back to port and complain that they make the same money as at other times of the year because the supply has increased."

Another simple measure would be to ban fishing at weekends, something which, according to Tourtakis, would not affect prices if the ban was nationwide.

However, other than to abide by the national outlaw banning the use of driftnets (the most ecologically-damaging form of fish capture) before the EU ban in European waters came into full effect in 2002, Greek fishermen have done precious little to arrest the decline of fish stocks.

Recent EU regulations to increase the size of the net mesh so smaller fish can escape and limit fishing vessels' distance from shore to around 1km, protecting the more sensitive coastal marine life, were greeted with strikes by fishermen in Thessaloniki and Attica, hardly a clarion call for change.

"We'll make changes," says Tourtakis, "We have to, but we have to be sure that these apply to everyone or else no one will follow."

Seeing is believing.

Minimal legal catches

Grey mullet (kefalos) 16cm

Red Mullet (barbouni) 11cm

Mullet (lithrini) 15cm

Sardine (sardella) 11cm

Anchovy (gavros) 9cm

Hake 20cm

Octopus 500g

Photos by Thrasy Petropoulos

ATHENS NEWS , 11/04/2008, page: A06
Article code: C13282A061

http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=&t=01&m=A06&aa=1