“1,200 euros fuel costs for 750 euros shrimp, I’ll stop”

He will retire earlier than he wants to. He doesn’t like it anymore and leaves the business to his daughter.

The Oostende 62 – Dini is today, like a number of other fishing vessels, unemployed. Luc Bogaert fishes almost exclusively for shrimps. But due to the expensive fuel prices, the juice is no longer worth the carbon. Luc Bogaert, inshore fisherman: “If one night, after 12 hours of fishing, you have only caught 40-50 kilograms, and your engine consumes between 70 and 80 liters per hour at a euro and a little, then the bill is quickly settled .”

That makes about 1,200 euros per night in fuel costs, for roughly 750 euros in shrimp. And then Luc also has to pay his staff. He hopes that fuel prices will fall again soon, and that warmer weather will allow shrimp to grow quickly for greater yields. He will try to go to sea again on Monday. But then it really is over, sooner than he would like. “At the end of the month I will retire. I no longer feel like it. My daughter is going to take over the company. I don’t like it anymore.”