1.3 Million Euros To Protect Seiners Against Piratesff
2 October 2013
Spain
The government of the Basque region in Spain has made it a priority to continue to maintain the security of its tuna fishing fleet after numerous reports of piracy and kidnapping. More than 1.3 million euros (USD 1.76 million) is to be allocated to five different tuna fishing companies to subsidize security hire on board their vessels fishing in the Indian Ocean.
The grant of 1,396,148 euros will be shared between Echebastar, Atunsa, Pevasa, INPESCA and Albacora, five Basque tuna fishing companies owning purse seiners that enter the Euskadi fishing port. A quarter of the government subsidy will be received now and the other 75 percent before February 2014. The grant will be used to finance the private hire of on-board vessel security.
October 2012 saw the attempted seizure of Basque purse seiner ‘Izurdia’. Somali pirates tried to take over the vessel, which resulted in a 30 minute exchange of shots between them and the ships own security.
The withdrawal of aid by the Spanish has been criticized by the Basque government. It says that its priority is to assure the safety of its tuna fishing fleet amidst dangerous situations created by pirates in the Indian Ocean.
