Sandrine Prioul / Photo credits: DENIS CHARLET / AFP 07:35, September 21, 2023

The price of fuel is not only a concern for motorists. The government has announced that it wants to end the rebate of 20 cents per litre granted to fishermen. Bad news for professionals, while their boats consume thousands of liters of diesel every month.

Fuel prices at the pump are not expected to drop anytime soon. While prices are soaring on the markets, the government's authorization to distributors to be able to sell at a loss, does not find customers. Most supermarket chains have announced that they are rejecting the government's proposal.

But motorists aren't the only ones worried about gas prices. The executive has announced that it wants to end on 15 October the subsidy of 20 cents per litre of diesel granted to fishermen. A small earthquake for the profession, especially for trawler owners. These boats consume nearly 20,000 liters per month. With the end of the rebate, it is nearly 4,000 euros of additional charges that will weigh on their owners.

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Tense and worried fishermen

So, at the fisheries committee of Saint-Malo, Philippe Orveillon fears that the difficulties accumulate and create a conflagration. "The sailors are tense, worried, and a fisherman who is tense and worried, it doesn't take much for him to get angry. And there, it's more difficult to manage, "he says at the microphone of Europe 1.

"These are tough people. They are used to working hard, to suffering in their work. And so, it may very well not happen for a very long time and then all of a sudden, the grenade is unpinned and then it gets complicated," he continues.

"We will be paid less"

Another subject of discontent is the indexation of wages to the price of diesel. This sailor wonders if he will not leave a large part of his pay there. "It's our salary that pays for diesel, it's taken from part of the salary. And then it's divided with the armament part and the sailor part. So, it means that we will be paid less, "he is alarmed.

"Either we're going to sell more, or we're going to save diesel. I don't know yet how we're going to do it" to solve the equation, he adds. Still under the surprise of this decision, fishermen say to wait for the Assises de la mer held at the end of the week in Nice, and perhaps measures that will compensate for the end of aid on diesel.