Dozens of protesting fishermen angry at the rising cost of fuel prices today gave away free fillets to shoppers in central Dublin.
The skippers from Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford, gathered on O’Connell Bridge to also dump stock in the Liffey to highlight limits on their fishing quotas.
They argue that with diesel prices soaring they can no longer compete with many European counterparts whose governments have provided fuel subsidies.
The industry is the latest to express frustration at the hike in costs with hauliers today also threatening to protest and private bus operators warning they may pull out of school routes.
“Rising fuel costs are forcing us out of business but what is compounding the problem is that our competitors who are supplying the exact same market as us have been given massive fuel subsidies by the government, namely France and Spain,” spokesman Seamus O’Flaherty said.
“That is squeezing the daylights out of us. They can afford, because of the subsidy, to supply fish at a lower price.
“The only way we can survive is if the price goes up. But the fish prices are not going up, so we’re under fierce pressure.”
The fishermen claim diesel prices have trebled in the last three years but the price of fishing stocks have not kept pace.
French skippers and fishery workers have blockaded dozens of ports throughout the country over the spiralling fuel costs.
President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a €310 million aid package to fishermen after several ports were blockaded in November.
But the fishermen said that aid was not enough to cope with the sharp increase in the price of diesel.
“We’re looking for a level playing field,” Mr O’Flaherty said.
“They (the Irish government) can do that by giving us the same subsidy as they enjoy in France and Spain, or they can work through the EU which is supposed to be competition friendly to take away these unfair subsidies that have been granted to France and Spain.”
Mr O’Flaherty said up to 100 skippers and supporters had gathered for the morning protest giving away haddock and monk fillets and they had received a tremendous response from the public.
“I’ve flabbergasted. I thought we would almost be marginalised this morning but we’ve had tremendous public support.”
Fishermen across Europe stayed in port today in growing protests against rising fuel prices that paralysed much of the continent's fishing fleet.
In Madrid, Spanish fishermen handed out 20 tonnes of free fish they said was practically worthless anyway because of rock bottom prices eroded by soaring costs.
Almost the entire Spanish fleet - by far the biggest in Europe - remained in port today, said Javier Garat, the secretary general of Spanish fishermen's federation Cepesca.
"People can't take any more and are protesting because governments and the (European) Commission are not taking action," he said.
"In the next two weeks I'm convinced that there will be a widespread stoppage. I expect that the European fleet will be tied up for the next 15-20 days."
In France, protests that have already lasted two weeks, rumbled on as fishermen from several Normandy ports blockaded Le Havre in Brittany and others briefly blocked access to several fuel depots and refineries in the Bouches du Rhone area.
Truckers, farmers and fishermen have protested at the cost of oil, which rose back over $127 a barrel on Friday.
Agencies