Attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea, jammed navigation signals, a shortage of fish and costly fuel are putting growing pressure on Bulgaria's fishing industry. That is the view of Yordan Gospodinov, executive director of the BG FISH association of fish product makers, in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) in Burgas.
He spoke after the two latest attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea, one from the air and one under water. One of the ships sank off Byala.
Gospodinov links the problems at sea to the war. "The war in Ukraine itself brings some jamming of signals, and ships very often risk getting lost at sea," he said.
The navigation problems have gone on for several months. Gospodinov said that once ships leave port, their navigation systems place them off the coast of Africa or Asia. Beyond the horizon they lose phone contact and rely on satellite navigation alone, and then they often cannot work out where they are. Ships also often meet drones, and the first mines were found in the Black Sea even earlier.
Gospodinov says the pressure hits the whole sector, and people feel fear to different degrees. Anyone who sails into the Black Sea is on alert, he said. He stressed that people's lives and health come before fishing, which is not done at any price.
He says the situation is now force majeure, partly because of the lack of fish. The big shoals of bluefish and horse mackerel that fishermen expected are not arriving in large enough numbers, and many fishing boats are idle in port. "The market in Bulgaria is small, people do not eat much fish. I do not want to say the situation is disastrous, but it is definitely hard," Gospodinov said.
Fuel prices are rising and hurting the industry, and crews are hard to find.