Fuel cost may make it 'too expensive to go to sea'
BBCRising diesel prices could soon make it "too expensive to go to sea", warn members of the fishing industry in south-west England.
Chris Ranford, from the Cornish Fish Producers' Organisation, said in January "the price of fuel for fishing was 64p a litre, earlier this week it was £1.20 a litre so we're nearly double the actual cost".
Tom McClure, skipper of the Milennia, Newlyn, described the price of fuel "going up like a rocket" and "coming down like a feather".
Meanwhile, Plymouth-based rod and line fisherman Joe Lynch said the increasing costs were "hurting more and more each time".
He said: "What we're selling isn't actually going up in line with the costs."
Lynch said: "We need to catch more fish for it to be viable for us to be at sea, but the fish isn't making enough so when you do have that bad day that cost is really amplified each day."
Ranford said the fishing industry does not have the ability to reflect the increased fuel prices to its buyers or consumers because most fish and shellfish was sold at auction meaning the prices were "dictated by the buyer and demand".
"We don't set the price," Ranford said.
"There's a real squeeze on profit margins for all parts of the industry now and there's obviously a tipping point for that which we're very much close to.
"Obviously we're in a extreme situation and I think some of our towed geared vessels and the offshore ones are more than £1,000 extra per day just for basic running costs to get to sea and do their job."
Speaking on behalf of the fishing industry, McClure said they felt "powerless".
He said: "The market driven auction and electronic auction does very well but the other merchants here have their transport costs.
"They've got to make a living as well so it's a very difficult situation beyond our control."
He said the price would "come down in time" but if it continued to increase, there was a "cut off point" when it would become "too expensive to go to sea".