Twelve to thirteen of the 29 fishing boats currently in the Kop van Noord-Holland area will make use of the government’s remediation scheme. Texel is particularly hard hit: more than half of the fishermen stop. It is still uncertain what consequences this will have for the fish auction in Den Helder.
“It is sadness, sadness, sadness,” says director Pim Visser of the Hollands Noorden fish auction. It is not yet clear whether the fish auction should close. “We will lose at least 10 million euros in turnover from the 14 million euros and that is a big blow.”
“The question is what the fishermen themselves want with the auction and what we can offer as an auction.” Visser has a number of scenarios ready. “We can remain in the landing point in Den Helder and have the fish go to the auction in Den Oever or still sort the fish in Den Helder and sell it via the internet auction. Or we close everything in Den Helder and transfer everything over.” to IJmuiden. We also clean the crates in Den Helder, but whether that remains affordable with the rising energy prices is also open to question.”
The auction will be in talks with the fishermen in the coming weeks.
Brexit
It is not just energy prices and environmental requirements that fishermen face. Due to Brexit, the British can decide for themselves that Dutch fishermen are no longer welcome. Nor do the Norwegians want any more Dutch fishermen in their waters. Fishermen are also losing many areas due to the arrival of wind farms.
Five of the ten cutters disappear in Den Helder, three of the seven remain on Texel and three or four of the twelve cutters stop in Den Oever. This mainly concerns large ships. According to our media partner, the four Texel ships that will be scrapped in the short term as a result of the decontamination scheme Texel Courant the TX1 (Vonk company), TX3 (Van der Vis), TX29 (Drijver) and TX94 (Boersen).
“Since the pulse was banned, we have earned nothing more,” Cor Vonk of the TX1 told the Texelse Courant. “We still sailed on for the crew and with the hope that the tide would turn. But that situation has been going on for a year and a half now and we are only sinking further.”
“It’s a drama”, says Pim Visser, “Young fishermen of the TX1 and TX94, they are in their thirties, were still in good spirits at the beginning of this year and would have wanted everything. They also did not see this coming.”
wind industry
The building of the fish auction in Den Helder belongs to the cooperative of fishermen themselves. It looks like it will become part of the operating base for the offshore wind industry.
It is possible that even more fishermen will make use of the remediation scheme. The registration period closes on November 30. Nationally, about 50 to 55 cutters are reported to have registered fishing news, which reports a ‘clearance’ for the beam trawl fleet. Several ships will ship next month to lay aside and are dismantled.
NH Nieuws will speak with one of the fishermen who make use of the remediation scheme on Friday.