Around 200 fishermen from Asturias and Galicia have demonstrated this Saturday in front of the Government Delegation in Asturias, in the center of Oviedo, to demand the “resignation” of the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, and to urge the Spanish Government to “take their claws away from fishing”, after the recent approval of the Maritime Space Management Plans (POEM), which reserve spaces on the Galician and Asturian coasts to install offshore wind farms. The fishermen assure that the mills will affect their fishing grounds for species such as horse mackerel, sardines, anchovies, bonito or monkfish.
“We do not want to become emptied coastal areas, wind energy projects on our coasts are not compatible with existing uses. You cannot play with nature or with the future of many families”, warned Adolfo García, president of the Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds of Asturias, in his speech, who indicated that the platform has requested a meeting with the president of the Principality , Adrián Barbón, to discuss the matter.
“We are in favor of renewable energy projects, as long as they are outside the fishing grounds. We fishermen are not slaughter meat, and our ecosystems and seas are not for sale, ”said his Galician counterpart, Basilio Otero. “We cannot take a step back”, has harangued the also major boss of Burela (Lugo).
The protest was attended by political representatives such as Álvaro Queipo, secretary general of the PP of Asturias; Adrián Pumares, spokesman for Foro Asturias en la Junta; Carmen Moriyón, president of Foro Asturias; and Nuria Rodríguez, deputy of Podemos en la Junta.