Kise: Montenegro has met its European obligations on paper, while fisheries remain without logistics and support

Although Montenegro has closed Chapter 13, nothing has been done in terms of logistics or in creating the basic conditions for the development of fisheries - Marko Kise, a fisherman from Herceg Novi and representative of 189 signatories of a petition calling for solutions to problems in this sector, said after a meeting at the EU Delegation in Podgorica.

As early as last summer, fishermen threatened to block the Bay of Kotor if the state failed to take action to create the basic conditions for the development of fisheries. They abandoned that plan after a meeting with Minister Vladimir Joković in early September. However, according to Kise, Joković did not keep his word. They also accuse the Ministry of Finance, headed by Novica Vuković, of sabotaging the formation of a working group and are threatening radical action.

- We were naïve, because we are not „seasoned“. We believed Joković when he said he would keep his word. After the meeting with Joković, on 11 September the Government adopted a decision to form an inter-sectoral working group. The deadline for its formation was ten days. It has not been formed to this day, because the Ministry of Finance persistently refuses to delegate its representative. We have been unable to even begin addressing our problems for five months. If solutions do not start soon, we will be forced to resort to some form of radicalization - Kise warned.

Explaining the fishermen’s demands, he said that Montenegrin ports and marinas are organized to cater to wealthy individuals and luxury yachts, and that fishermen cannot afford to carry out overhauls of their modest fishing vessels at the prices charged by private marinas and the shipyard in Tivat. Such overhauls are necessary in order to register fishing vessels.

He stated that, in addition to places for vessel repairs, fishermen are requesting officially regulated fuel prices, moorings for boats along the entire Montenegrin coast, a grant fund for the renewal of the fishing fleet, and an increase in the VAT registration threshold to 60.000 euros, similar, as Kise noted, to the threshold applicable to entrepreneurs in Croatia and Serbia.

Kise said that in one of the discussions with the director of the Tivat shipyard, it was suggested that the Government could conclude an agreement allowing fishing vessels to be serviced under more favorable conditions, as is done for the army and the police.

- With vessels like these, we are finished as far as the European Union is concerned - Kise said.

From today’s meeting with EU representatives, the fishermen expect that things will finally begin to move off deadlock.