The Den Helder fish auction has fired all 22 sorters ‘as a precaution’. They are allowed to work there until the end of this year and then will lose their job, they were informed this morning. The reason: many fishing vessels are expected to disappear due to a new remediation scheme for the Dutch fishing fleet. Too much to keep their jobs going.
The fishing industry has been struggling for years. Think of the pulse ban, Brexit, closed fishing areas and wind farms at sea. Fuel prices have also risen enormously since this year and fishermen have to deal with new nitrogen regulations.
Now that a restructuring scheme for the Dutch fishing fleet has been approved by the European Union, there is a good chance that many fishermen will choose eggs for their money and sell everything. There is already a small fishing fleet in the naval town, and the fish auction fears that there is hardly any fishing cutter left.
Precaution
Without fish there is no more work for the sorters (who have to sort the fish by length, ed.). Their contracts will be terminated on December 31. “It is a precautionary measure,” says director Pim Visser of Fish Auction Hollands Noorden, which Den Helder falls under. “We don’t know exactly how it will turn out. Or we can continue very small with a little fish, and then we meet with the sorters again to see what we can offer them, or there is so little left that we can can’t offer anything.”
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Visser expects that more will become clear in October or November. It is also unclear to him how many people will make use of the remediation scheme. But there is no doubt that there will be fishermen who decide to stop with this arrangement. “I’m afraid that three or four large ships will disappear in Den Helder – that is the majority of the fleet there – and just as many on Texel. This concerns half the fishing fleet. But it remains a guess. definitively if the ships are scrapped.”
He knew that things were going badly in the fishing industry, but he would not have thought it possible at the beginning of this year that he had to take this scenario into account already. “Everything has been super accelerated by the war in Ukraine,” said Visser. “Otherwise we would not have been faced with this dramatic decision. The war fuel prices have exploded. A large ship uses about 30,000 liters of fuel per week. For comparison: a smaller ship only 6,000 to 7,000 liters.”
Sad
Bert de Groot, as manager of the sorting company, had to tell the sorters this morning that they would lose their jobs. “It’s very sad,” says De Groot. “The people are very realistic, and it makes sense that the company makes this choice, but this has happened so quickly. That everyone has to leave at once is so extreme. But unfortunately it is a fact.”
De Groot also does not know how things will continue with the Helderse fish auction. “I’ve been working here since 1986 and then there were 150/160 people working. Now there are just under 30 people left. In principle there will always be work, because there always has to be unloaded. Anyway, if the entire exit disappears, there is work for no one. There is a chance that many will stop.”
Loyal team
It is not the first time that De Groot has experienced a round of layoffs. “This is now the third round of remediation. Sad. It is a very loyal team, some have been working there for 40 years.”
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It concerns 22 people who lose their jobs. Sixteen fish sorters have a fixed hour contract. Their contract ends on December 31. Six people have a temporary contract that will not be renewed.
Visser is less concerned about the fishing industry in Den Oever, where Pim Visser also manages the fish auction. They mainly fish for shrimps with smaller cutters, which means that they have less fuel costs. He does not expect that many Wieringer fishermen will make use of the scheme and stop.