More than 20 staff from Bulgaria's fisheries agency held a warning strike outside the regional government building in Burgas, protesting a shake-up the agriculture ministry is planning. The Podkrepa union organized the protest.

This follows our earlier report on the planned walkout by staff at the Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture, in which the Podkrepa labour confederation called for agriculture minister Plamen Abrovski to resign.

Workers are angry over a plan to merge the fisheries agency with the Executive Forest Agency. The union says nearly half of all staff could lose their jobs, since the ministry's plan would keep only 80 to 120 people in the new combined body.

The protest took place during staff's lunch break, after workers said they had been threatened for speaking out publicly about their concerns.

"Our main worry is that there's still no written plan, in black and white, for how this merger will actually work," said Aneliya Ivanova, head of the National Federation of Agriculture and Forestry at Podkrepa. She said no financial or operational analysis has been done to back up the decision.

Ivanova said the ministry justifies the merger by claiming the two agencies' work overlaps, but the union's own review tells a different story. She said the only thing the fisheries agency and the forest agency have in common is that both carry out inspections — while the fisheries agency also enforces the Fisheries and Aquaculture Act and a series of EU rules under the bloc's fisheries programme.

The fisheries agency's chief legal officer, Milena Arabadzhieva, called it insulting to suggest the agency isn't needed. "To put it mildly, it's insulting to stand in front of the whole country, in front of the public, and say the agency doesn't work and isn't needed at all," she said.

Staff said they are protesting to save their jobs, and are worried about the merger because it's still not clear who will keep their positions and who won't.

The union has written to the prime minister and parliament, asking for the reasoning behind the merger, financial analysis, and a clear plan. It has also asked the European Commission whether it's even allowed to shut down a body that runs EU-funded projects before the current funding period ends.

53 associations and fishing organizations have spoken out in support of keeping the fisheries agency as it is.

Staff are planning another protest on Wednesday in Kardzhali.